MARC Apologizes for Penn Line Problems Last Week

The Maryland Transit Administration has issued an apology for the brake failure on a MARC train during rush hour Friday that led to major delays along the Penn Line.

Train 530 stopped moving just north of the New Carrollton station at about 5 p.m. Friday, forcing MARC to send a rescue train and transfer passengers. Commuters arriving at the Odenton station were about 75 minutes late. 

MARC officials said they are still investigating the cause of the brake failure. 

Here is the full text of the apology, which was sent to commuters via e-mail.

"MARC sincerely regrets the inconvenience and delays experienced on train 530 on Friday, February 18.  Train 530 became disabled just north of New Carrollton.  While a cause of the failure has not been identified, the train's brakes would not release despite troubleshooting by the engineer and two technicians.  Amtrak and MARC mechanical staff are still evaluating the locomotive for the cause of this failure.

The problem was isolated to the brakes, so the train did have lights and climate control during the delay.  A back-up set of equipment was sent from Washington and the passenger transfer was completed 70 minutes after the train stopped.   We understand that an additional level of frustration was experienced by passengers traveling north of Baltimore when they were required to de-train in Baltimore and transfer to another train.  MARC was not informed about this by Amtrak, thus no email alert was sent to our passengers.  This should not have happened and we will follow up with Amtrak managers.

Other Penn Line trains experienced delays due to train congestion and having to unload passengers from the middle track at Seabrook.

Again, we sincerely regret these delays--we understand and appreciate that they are all the more frustrating on a Friday afternoon.  Thank you for riding the MARC Train Service."