Brunswick meet and greet?

Second of two chances (so far) for Brunswick riders to meet with MARC managers tomorrow, July 28, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Gaithersburg station. (The first was last Wednesday at the Brunswick station). Not sure what these sessions entail - perhaps a fuller explanation for why two Brunswick line trains were running late this morning?- or if there will be similar meet and greets for Penn and Camden commuters later in the summer.

If you've attended a meeting in the past please post details: are the sessions a forum for venting? Do the mangers take responsibilty for system problems? What did you learn about MARC?

I'll try to catch a Penn or Camden event and report back to Stuckonmarc.

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Fancy new signs at Union Station

Is this really where the system needs an upgrade?
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Inside MARC Mess at Inside Charm City

Inside Charm City's Jeff Quinton corralled the litany of this morning's delays and problems on the MARC system here. At least 16 service warnings went out this morning and that doesn't include a few other trains, which commenters said were also delayed without an explanation from MARC officials.

Hopefully this morning's MARC madness was an aberration or at least attributable to working out the kinks during the first day of a new schedule.

An MTA spokesperson would not field my question about the reason for the latest schedule change. Instead she sent me to customer information, where a very friendly customer service representative provided the most straightforward explanation yet: Amtrak. Just like when you're stalled on your morning commute in a dark tunnel until an Acela thunders by, Amtrak's responsible. The rep said that with the uptick in rail use, Amtrak regularly has to tweak its schedule to accomodate all varieties of express and nonstop trains. These changes force Amtrak's ugly stepson- MARC- to adjust accordingly. The rep lamented that in the good old days the schedule changes would happen twice annually, in line with daylight savings. With Acela's ridership up 6.5% for FY2008, schedule tweaks have also risen to three or four times a year.

Times they are a changin'

Why the schedule change I asked a uniformed personnel at Penn Station this morning. After shooting me a half annoyed, half confused look, the woman answered: "Because it's time for a change." When I pressed her for more specifics, she acted exasperated and finally answered that the new schedule was a regular, twice annual occurrence. Hmmm, I don't remember two schedule changes last year.

A more friendly MARC conductor told me that changes were due to adjustments in the schedules of a few afternoon trains that were conflicting with Amtrak.

Two very different answers...I'll try to get a MARC spokesperson on the phone this afternoon for an official explanation.

Monday on MARC

'The back of the board is not working today' is the message that greets me upon arrival at Penn Station this morning. I craned my neck around the side to check departure times. I scan for my 7:40 to D.C. but all the departure times run from 5:00 a.m. To 6:45 a.m. Did I set my alarm an hour early? Nope. The front of the board is not working either. So begins the workweek.

'Getting There'

Check out Michael Dresser's blog on The Sun's Web site for MARC mishaps and other transportation news.

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.