Community Corner

Commuters Dubious About MARC "Hell Train" Report

MTA report lists communication, equipment and management failures that led to June 21 breakdown that left 1,200 riders abandoned in sweltering heat.

MARC commuters who depend on the state-operated train system to get to jobs in the Washington, D.C., area say they are doubtful that recommendations in a report on the June 21, 2010 "hell train" incident will mean an improvement in performance and rider satisfaction.

The three commuter rail lines run by Maryland Transit Administration are "very frail," says Maria Luisa Latorre, a federal employee who runs a blog, Commuter Rail to Hell, and rides the Camden Line daily between Washington and Savage, MD.

"The service is bad, it continues to be bad and I don't see any hope at all," Latorre says.

Find out what's happening in Laurelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

MARC operates three lines – Camden, Penn and Brunswick – that carry about 30,000 commuters every day, including about 2,000 people who use the Halethorpe station on Southwestern Boulevard, according to MTA spokesperson Terry Owens.

A much smaller number of people use the Relay/St. Denis station on the Camden line.

Find out what's happening in Laurelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Aside from major transfer points such as Penn Station and BWI Airport, the Halethorpe station is the busiest local stop on the heavily traveled Penn Line, according to MTA data.

On Dec. 16, MTA released a 53-page report on the incident with the Penn line's train 538, which broke down north of New Carrollton and left 1,200 people stranded in the sweltering heat with no air conditioning and no communication.

According to Weather Underground, the temperature reached 93 degrees on June 21. With the sun blazing through the windows, temperatures on the upper level of train cars reportedly exceeded 100 degrees.

"It was so hot that people were passing out," says Amelia Rivera, who caught the fateful 538 while commuting from her job at a D.C.-area law firm to the Halethorpe station. "We were drenched. There were elderly people and little children on board, and that was the worst thing."

Riders say that they were initially forbidden from opening windows or standing in the alcove at the end of the cars.  The bathrooms aboard the trains were also out of order.

When transit police finally responded to the stalled train, whose passengers were growing restless, "they were very arrogant and unhelpful," Rivera says.

Passengers were threatened with arrest if they left the train. "They told us we had to stay on the train or we'd go to jail," says Rivera.

Eventually, riders began calling 911 and more than 1,000 people abandoned the train to find other ways home. The train was restarted more than three hours after its 6:13 p.m. departure from Union Station.

The MTA report identifies failures in maintenance, management, communication and other areas that contributed to the June 21 incident and lists recommendations to prevent a repeat in the future.

Riders who were inconvenienced were offered five MARC daily passes. "A daily pass doesn't do me any good," says Rivera. "I'm a monthly. I can't use a daily pass."

People who use the train said they don't hold a lot of hope that service will improve.

"The trains are old and the equipment is crappy," says Latorre. "There isn't a lot of money put into it. The system is so frail, so bad, that one day something bad is going to happen."

When the system works, the commute is considered excellent–a 25-45 minute ride from Halethorpe to Union Station--and still a bargain at $6 for a one-way fare or $150 for a monthly pass; far cheaper than fuel, parking, vehicular wear-and-tear and frazzled nerves.

Commuters complain that speakers used to make announcements to riders waiting at Halethorpe are often unintelligible and electronic message boards on trains are usually unused.

"There was a total lack of communication" when Penn line 538 broke down, Rivera says.

The incident wreaked havoc on passengers' schedules, creating problems with child care, work, meals, appointments and other obligations.

"It doesn't take much to set the whole thing off – switch problems, the overhead lines," says Latorre. "The whole thing falls apart, like a domino effect."

MARC usually operates 83 trains daily on its three lines. According to data on MTA's web site, 13 trains representing the evening peak traffic on the Penn line have been on time an average of 82.5 percent so far this year.

MTA publishes reports of every delay and cancellation of MARC trains on its web site, revealing deeper problems.

There were more than 200 delayed MARC trains during the month of November, an average of almost 10 delays per day. Five of the delays were for more than an hour. Fourteen trains were cancelled during the month and five trains terminated before their destination.

Certain dates jump out, including Nov. 5, when a MARC train derailed at Union Station, resulting in 30 delays and seven trains cancelled or terminated early. On Nov. 19, the afternoon MARC service was snarled by 20 delays–including one for an hour–and three cancelled trains.

This past Monday, Penn line trains were delayed two hours.

A memorandum from MTA administrator Ralign T. Wells said the agency has taken specific steps to address critical factors that contributed to the incident.

The report lists 46 projects and initiatives undertaken in response, ranging from hiring an independent consultant to investigate the incident to ensuring that MARC trains are equipped with emergency water.

At press time, 35 of the improvements had been enacted, with 11 yet to be completed.

Commuters think MARC should do better.

"We're not talking about a teeny tiny town in the middle of nowhere," says Latorre. "This is the nation's capital."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here