MARC
MARC service includes the Brunswick Line (orange), Camden Line (green) and Penn Line (purple).
Info
Locale	Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit type	Regional rail
Number of lines	3
Number of stations	43
Daily ridership	32,0001
Operation
Began operation	1984
Operator(s)	CSX Transportation (Camden and Brunswick) Amtrak (Penn) (under contract to the Maryland Transit Administration)
Technical
System length	187 mi (301 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)

MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter), known prior to 1984 as Maryland Rail Commuter Service, is a regional rail system comprising three lines in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA), a Maryland Department of Transportation agency, and is operated under contract by CSX Transportation and Amtrak. MARC does not operate on weekends. Service is suspended or reduced on select holidays. With some equipment capable of reaching speeds of 125 mph, MARC is considered the fastest commuter railroad in the United States.²

Train lines

MARC operates 84 weekday trains on three separate lines: the Brunswick Line (19 trains), the Camden Line (18 trains), and the Penn Line (47 trains).

Brunswick Line

The Brunswick Line is the longest line, from Washington, D.C. to Martinsburg, West Virginia over the CSX Metropolitan, Old Main Line, and Cumberland Subdivisions, all of which were former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines.

Camden Line

The Camden Line runs between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland Camden Station over the CSX Capital Subdivision. Service by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began along this route in 1830, making it the oldest passenger rail line in the U.S.

Penn Line

The Penn Line runs between Washington, D.C. and Perryville, Maryland on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and is the fastest commuter rail line in North America, with trains of bi-level cars and electric locomotives operating at up to 125 mph². It was previously used by the Pennsylvania Railroad(hence the name) and is the busiest line, carrying more passengers than the other two lines combined. All day on weekends and before 6am and after 10pm on weekdays most Amtrak Regional trains accept MARC monthly and weekly tickets at Amtrak/MARC stations, and some Amtrak trains carry MARC ticket holders boarding at Aberdeen during the week.

Special Western Maryland service

Trains have made special weekend trips to and from Cumberland, Maryland. Past events have included trains for Western Maryland residents to attend sporting events in the Baltimore/Washington Area, such as Baltimore Orioles or Washington Redskins games, or for Baltimore/Washington residents to attend the Railfest in Cumberland and enjoy the scenic mountains and fall foliage of Western Maryland.

History

The local rail passenger service now called MARC Train Service, has actually operated since the 1830's on what is now know as the Camden Line, and since the mid to late 1800's on the Penn and Brunswick Lines. The service now operated by CSX was formerly the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's (B&O) local train service (Camden and Brunswick lines). The Penn Line service was the local train service of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and later, Penn Central, followed by Conrail.

The passenger trains eventually became unprofitable and in 1974, the B&O Railroad approached the State of Maryland with an intention of discontinuing the service unless a subsidy could be provided. The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) agreed to provide a partial subsidy of the deficit in 1974, and in 1975 this evolved into an operating greement with the B&O, where Maryland agreed to pay the total operating deficit for the trains and provide the rolling stock.

In 1976 MDOT entered into a similar agreement with Conrail, which had ended up with responsibility for local passenger train operations in the Northeast Corridor after the bankruptcy of Penn Central and other Northeast railroads. In that same year, the State Railroad Administration was established by Executive Order of the Governor, to oversee these railroad contracts, to procure the needed rolling stock, to apply for and manage federal funding for the commuter rail service, and to administer a state funded subsidy program for shortline freight rail operations, primarily on the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland.

In 1982, Congress relieved Conrail of the responsibility to operate local passenger rail service, and in 1983, the State entered into an operating agreement with Amtrak to continue this service (now referred to as the Penn Line). The same year Maryland, along with a number of other Northeastern states, took control of its commuter railroads and the "MARC" (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) service name was established. The State Railroad Administration conducted a marketing study, which resulted in the creation of the name and logo of MARC to use as a unifying tool for marketing the service where, at that time, train crews wore either B&O or Amtrak uniforms, and some of the rail cars in use were leased from New Jersey Transit. So, while the name MARC was established in 1983, the service dates back well over 100 years. In 1992, the former State Railroad Administration was merged with the Mass Transit Administration. The Mass Transit Administration was later renamed to Maryland Transit Administration which now oversees the operation of MARC Train Service.³

Equipment

EMD GP40WH-2 No. 52 at Baltimore, Maryland July 2, 2004.

MARC conductors catching up with local news on a foggy morning at Brunswick station.

MARC II Single Level Nippon Sharyo Cab Car 7757 at Baltimore Camden Station.

A train of Kawasaki MARC III bi-levels at BWI Rail Station on the Penn Line headed towards Baltimore.

• Locomotives
  • EMD/ASEA AEM-7
  • Bombardier-Alstom HHP-8
  • EMD GP40WH-2
  • EMD GP39H-2
  • MPI MP36PH-3C

• Passenger Cars
  • Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo MARC II single-level coaches and cab cars
  • Kawasaki MARC III Bi-Level coaches and cab cars
  • Pullman Gallery Bi-Level coaches (ex-Metra)

As the Penn Line is the only electrified line, the AEM-7 and HHP-8 are restricted to that line. The majority of the Kawasaki cars are operated on the Penn Line, and the Pullman cars are only operated on Brunswick Line trains to Brunswick or Martinsburg due to their restriction to use at low-level platforms only. All trains are operated with a cab car from which the engineer can control the train. The cab car is typically at the head of trains traveling toward Washington and the locomotive is at the head of trains heading away from Washington. In the early 2000s a single unpowered EMD F cab unit, #7100 (ex-Baltimore & Ohio Railroad F7 #4553), occasionally substituted for a cab car.

In spring 2008 MARC placed an order for 26 new MPI MP36PH-3C diesel locomotives, which will replace all 19 of the 70s-era GP40s. They were scheduled to begin arriving in November 2008, and are currently being delivered and tested.⁴ Units 10, 11, and 12 have been delivered and were to begin service around May 18, 2009⁵, but due to testing and federal safety requirements, service for the new engine was pushed back. Units 11 and 12 entered service in January 2010. Unit 10 remains equipped with test equipment pending completion of testing required to operate at high speed on the Penn Line.

To cope with increasing ridership, the MTA announced in August 2008 the acquisition of 13 Kawasaki bi-level passenger cars from VRE, originally scheduled to be placed in service by November 2008. The first units were placed in service in mid-January 2009 on the Brunswick line. The MTA has announced that all 13 cars will be placed in service on the Brunswick Line to replace the aging ex-METRA gallery cars.⁶ The $22 million purchase is a 10% increase in fleet size from 122 passenger cars.⁶ However due to an increase in ridership, the ex-METRA cars have remained in serve along the Brunswick Line and the ex-VRE cars operate across all 3 lines.

Crashes and incidents

MARC Memorial in the grounds of the Brunswick train station.

On February 16, 1996, during the Friday evening rush hour, an eastbound train headed to Washington Union Station collided with the westbound Amtrak Capitol Limited headed to Chicago via Pittsburgh. The collision occurred at Georgetown Junction on a snow-swept stretch of track just west of Silver Spring, Maryland. The crash left 11 people dead aboard the MARC train. Three died of injuries suffered in the impact, with the rest succumbed to the ensuing smoke and flames; the MARC engineer and two conductors were among the dead.

The NTSB report concluded that the MARC crew apparently forgot the restricting signal aspect of the Kensington color-position signal after making a flag stop at Kensington Station. The engineer of the Capitol Limited also apparently increased speed rather than braking in an attempt to make the crossover. The MARC train was operating in push mode with the cab control car out front. The Amtrak locomotives were in the crossover at the time of the collision; the MARC cab control car collided with the lead Amtrak unit, an F40PH, rupturing its fuel tank and igniting the fire that caused most of the casualties. The second Amtrak unit was a GE Genesis P40DC, a newer unit that has a fuel tank that is shielded in the center of the frame, so a few seconds' difference might have prevented the fire. The official investigation also suggests that the accident might have been prevented if a human-factors analysis had been conducted when modifications to the track signaling system were made in 1985.

On February 7, 2008 a train derailed at Union Station after it was hit by an Amtrak switcher locomotive. The train was still unloading passengers at the time of impact, and seven people received minor head and neck injuries. The Amtrak locomotive attempting to couple to the train was reportedly moving too fast.⁷

Proposed service expansion

In the 2000s ridership increased significantly, and the system neared capacity for its current configuration. With the area population growing and the BRAC process poised to bring new jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground and Ft. Meade, both of which are served by nearby stations, the state saw the need to expand service to accommodate growth. In September 2007, MTA Maryland unveiled an ambitious 30-year plan of system improvements. Though funding sources had not been established at that time, the plan represented the state's goals of increasing capacity and flexibility. Proposed improvements included:⁸

• Acquisition of new equipment.
• Weekend service on the Penn Line.
• Increased mid-day service and reverse-commute service on the Camden and Brunswick Lines.
• Extension of service past Union Station to L'Enfant Plaza and Northern Virginia along tracks used by VRE trains, thus relieving pressure on the Washington Metro.
• More daily trips east of Penn Station, including improved service to the Aberdeen Proving Ground.
• Service beyond Perryville to Newark, Delaware or Wilmington, Delaware, providing a connection to SEPTA's regional rail services similar to the SEPTA/New Jersey Transit connection for Philadelphia/New York City trips (SEPTA does not operate Regional Rail service south of Wilmington on weekday off-peak and Saturdays and beyond Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania on Sundays).
• New or expanded tunnels along the Northeast Corridor in Baltimore.
• New stations in Baltimore, providing direct connections with the Metro Subway, and service to Johns Hopkins Hospital and Bayview Medical Center.
• New service to Southern Maryland along CSX tracks used for coal trains to power plants in Morgantown and Chalk Point.
• Rapid transit-like service through Baltimore.

While many of these proposals would require expensive capital improvement and years or decades to implement, the agency would like to put others into action as quickly as possible, suggesting that, for instance, Penn Line weekend service could have begun as early as 2008. However, budgetary issues have delayed any such expansions. In Spring 2009, to offset such budget shortfalls, ticket sales employees at non-Amtrak stations were replaced with Amtrak "Quick-Trak" touchscreen ticket machines, and some train services have been eliminated or scaled back (871, the 1:45pm train on the Brunswick line, for example, now operates only on Fridays). Ticket machines were also added to stations that were not previously staffed, such as Halethorpe, Odenton, Camden and all multi-purpose stations are still staffed.

References

External links

• Maryland Transit Administration
• MARC System Map
  • Brunswick line schedule
  • Camden line schedule
  • Penn Line schedule
• MARC Current Train Status Using GPS Technology
• MARC Railfan Site