New rail cars on MARC, but not on Penn Line
Some riders of the MARC Penn Line have been wondering whatever became of the 13 double-decker railcars the Maryland Transit Administration recently bought from the Virginia Railway Express.
The answer, accordiing to Maryland Department of Transportation spokesman Jack Cahalan, is that they are in service but only on the Camden and Brunswick lines. He said the MTA is currently seeking Federal Railroad Administration certification for the cars to operate at sppeds up to 125 mph. Once it receives that certification, Cahalan said, the MTA will be able to use the cars on the frequently crowded Penn Line as well.
Cahalan said the MTA conducted tests of the cars over the weekend and that the MTA bbelieves they passed with flying colors. He said the MTA submitted its documentation to the federal agency and hopes to have permission to use them on the Penn Line by the end of the year.
Comments
As someone who has riden both the Camden line for a long period of time and the Penn line for a about a year, I don't really have a problem with this. The Camden line has relied mostly on the prehistoric single-level coaches. Aesthetics aside, you can't #1 immediately relive overcrowdin and #2 grow ridership on that line without the expanded coach capacity.
MARC has a long range plan but, to hear the tired old tale, no money to implement it. At least these coaches are finally within the system as opposed to sitting idle at the shop at Martin St. Airport.
Posted by: Pete | August 13, 2009 6:23 PM
So these rail cars MTA overpaid VRE for will possibly see service 16 months after purchase?
COMMENT: On the Penn Line. They're in service on Camden and Brunswick.
Posted by: Jeff Quinton | August 13, 2009 6:26 PM
Pete, many of us think that O'Malley's promotion of the Purple and Red Lines is a lot like that MARC Investment and Growth Plan: the governor unveils these bold, expensive plans, but fails to implement them due to cost--and then can't even deal with core maintenance problems here and now.
The bottom line is that O'Malley made a nice showy announcement about the new locomotives, then failed to deliver, and MARC riders are suffering. People would be a lot less angry if that announcement had been delayed.
Posted by: David | August 14, 2009 6:27 AM
Michael,
What is todays excuse from the MTA as to why the Penn Line was disrupted this morning?
Posted by: Charles B from SP | August 17, 2009 12:40 PM
I ride the Camden and I hope these double deckers stay forever. The old cars are horrible, anyone over 6 foot or over 200 pounds can't even hope to comfortably squash into these three across seats. People pay $125 a month to have someone's armpit jammed into their shoulder. I'd rather pay $200 a month not to have to deal with that.
Posted by: Rider | August 31, 2009 8:53 AM
I also ride the Camden line and it sorely needs some of these double deckers. It used to have a few and they were all moved to the Penn line over the last few years. Now the Camden Line - which has seen a double digit increase in ridership - is crowded and often has people standing in the vestibules. The old single level cars often don't have AC or the ceilings are leaking. With those conditions I question why we should have to pay the same, yet not have the same service? They really should keep some of these "new" double deckers on the Camden.
Posted by: Camden Rider | August 31, 2009 10:19 AM