the maryland and delaware railroad company is a class iii short-line railroad, formed in 1977 to operate several branch lines of the former penn central railroad in both maryland and delaware, united states. these branches were omitted from the system plan for conrail in 1976 and would have been discontinued without state subsidies. as an alternative to the higher cost of subsidizing conrail as operator of the branch lines, the maryland and delaware governments selected the maryland and delaware railroad company (mdde) to serve as the designated operator.