The news in the Washington Post over the weekend that Virginia Railway Express has decided to dump Amtrak and award a contract to a French firm to operate its trains made me wonder whether a similar move is in MARC's future.

The answer is no. Not on the Penn Line, at least.

According to Jack Cahalan, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation, MARC is in the second year of a five-year contract with Amtrak to operate its commuter trains on the Penn Line (Perryville-Washington) and the state has no plans to solicit bids from another vendor.

It's a different story on the Camden (Baltimore-Washington) and Brunswick (Martinsburg, W.Va.-Washington) lines. On those lines, freight  railroad CSX wants out of the business of hauling passengers.  Cahalan said the state has issued a bid solicitation for another provider to operate trains on those CSX-owned lines. Bid are expected in by the end of the year, he said.