The Maryland Transit Administration has suspended operations on the MARC Brunswick Line this afternoon because of downed power lines near its tracks west of Rockville.

MTA spokesman Terry Owens said MARC service to Western Maryland was interrupted by the same power line problem that has disrupted service on the Washington Metro Red Line today. He said the power lines  had fallen on the Metro tracks close to where they parallel the CSX tracks the MTA uses for the Brunswick Line service.

Owens said Brunswick Line riders were being urged to take the Red Line to either the Silver Spring or Twinbrook stations and to catch buses provided by the MTA to reach MARC stations on the line.

Neither the Penn Line nor the Camden Line, which travel the corridor between Baltimore and Washington, were affected, Owens said.