New MARC schedule begins tomorrow

Starting Monday, July 20, 2009 we'll see a few changes to the MARC Penn and Camden line schedules, Brunswick stays the same. On the Penn line, nine North and Southbound trains have slight time adjustments to their schedules. Camden has added a College Park stop in both directions.

Here's what we're looking at for Penn:

Northbound

• 408 leaves D.C. at 7:40 a.m. (three minutes later)
• 410 leaves D.C. at 8:30 a.m. (arrives at Penn Station at 9:30 instead of 9:27)
• 520 leaves D.C. at 12:20 p.m. (five minutes earlier)
• 428 leaves D.C. at 4:15 p.m. (arrives at Penn Station at 5:06 instead of 5:04)
• 442 leaves D.C. at 7:40 p.m. (leaves 10 minutes later)

Southbound

• 521 leaves Penn Station at 9:47 a.m. (five minutes earlier)
• 427 skips Seabrook, leaves New Carrolton at 1:17 (arrives in D.C. five minutes earlier)
• 535 leaves Perryville at 2:50 (ten minutes earlier, no changes from Penn Station on)
• 439 leaves Penn Station at 5:25 (five minutes earlier)

And Camden:

• Northbound - 846 will stop at College Park at 4:24 p.m.
• Southbound - 849 will stop at College Park at 8:10 p.m.

More info on the MTA Web site here.

Why the changes? Not sure, since some schedule adjustments amount to a matter of minutes. It could be that MARC has made the changes to reflect reality. I.e., if the schedules says that the 410 Penn Line train leaving D.C. at 8:30 a.m. arrives in Baltimore at 9:30 a.m., it is actually closer to 9:30 a.m. than 9:27 a.m. But my experience has been that MARC Penn Line trains generally run 10 minutes behind, whereas Camden Line trains actually get into the arrival station a few minutes early. I'll endeavor to get an answer from a MARC official tomorrow morning. Check back for an update and in the meantime let me know what you think about the schedule changes.