All MARC trains between Baltimore and DC cancelled today

Submitted by sxswnxnw t3_10gw365 in baltimore

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/01/20/marc-train-cancels-service/

"Due to system wide outage," per the MTA. Smh, hope no one was planning to use it today.

Edit 1: The trains are affected this morning with no estimated time for restoration of normal service. Folks have reported being able to take trains on Penn line, but not Camden line. Please note this article has been edited at least twice, and this appears to be an evolving issue. Check with a primary source, like the MTA, for more of-the-moment updates, not secondary sources like The Washington Post.

Edit 2: As of approximately 10:00 a.m., folks are reporting normal (well, reduced schedule, so not exactly normal) train service has been restored. Again, please confirm with MTA as you plan today. For example, MTA posted the service restoration announcement on Twitter. That original WaPo article has also been updated.

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artgrrl t1_j54yyx7 wrote

My husband is turning back around from Penn Station right now due to this issue. He was supposed to give an important presentation in DC today. Bummer. At least he can still get dialed in, but he said it won’t be the same. Wish we had seen this news sooner!

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NewrytStarcommander t1_j551opj wrote

It makes me a little crazy that a failure on MARC is big news, yet every day what seems like half the scheduled buses are cut with no notice to riders and everyone shrugs.

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Tr33beard31 t1_j553r43 wrote

At least some trains on the Penn line are still being run. They're doubling up some Amtrak trains to continue service. I just took it into DC.

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sxswnxnw OP t1_j5558n3 wrote

Replying to Tr33beard31 (#1,416,107)

Yeah article is brief, but says they're working on restoring service but no estimated time, maybe progress has been made. I wonder if Camden is also affected.

I'm usually a 6 am rider on some Fridays so... Thankful my meeting was last week because I would not have been a happy camper this morning.

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Tr33beard31 t1_j555pu8 wrote

Replying to sxswnxnw (#1,416,209)

From what I've seen, a lot of the Camden trains had been cancelled. The Camden line isn't run by Amtrak so they don't have the option of doubling up with local Amtrak trains like the Penn line. The MTA Maryland Twitter page has the details on which trains have been cancelled.

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donta4 t1_j558hs0 wrote

This should be edited to say that all trains are cancelled THIS MORNING.

I was supposed to be on a 6:45 AM MARC but they honored tickets on an Amtrak that left around 7:10, stopping at Union Station only a few minutes later than my MARC was supposed to arrive.

Certainly hope they fix this by the evening.

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NewrytStarcommander t1_j55asfs wrote

Replying to DfcukinLite (#1,416,419)

Yes and I don't know what line you ride. But the NV yesterday had two cut runs in the AM when I was trying to get to work. There is data on this by line- was posted here recently; and has had a marked upward over the last few years.

Edit- here, found the link to some of the data. If you have never been affected, you are extremely lucky! https://medium.com/@daniellesweeney/the-mta-cut-2-000-bus-runs-in-baltimore-in-the-six-months-85a693371f4b. Granted this is old; I've seen something more recent and it's gotten worse. Will try to find the more recent data.

And here's what I was looking for: https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/yv19y2/aries_for_transit_is_tracking_how_well_the_buses/

Dig into their different data sets a bit and you'll understand that you are basically a unicorn if you've never experienced service issues on MTA buses in Baltimore.

Source: I've lived car-free in Baltimore for 12+ years now. I know transit.

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DfcukinLite t1_j55h3zh wrote

Replying to NewrytStarcommander (#1,416,550)

I didn’t say “never had service issues”. I specifically take the Navy mainly as there’s a stop a block from my house that takes me to my office in the harbor. I take that, the sliver, 65, 71, and green routes regularly. Ghost buses are a thing but not “half the scheduled buses”

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donta4 t1_j55i7wv wrote

Service has been restored. Please update the title.

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pathofwrath t1_j5601cr wrote

Replying to NewrytStarcommander (#1,415,940)

Daily cuts are generally like single digit percentage these days. Some routes end up with more trips cut than others. Routes with higher frequency are more likely to have cuts so that already infrequent routes don't end up stranding people forever. (Cutting a trip on a route that runs every 10 minutes leads to a 20 minute gap between trips while cutting a trip on a route that comes every 30 minutes results in a 60 minute gap.)

There is a manpower shortage nationwide in the transit industry. MDOT MTA isn't unique in that challenge.

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Camelbreath18 t1_j5603pr wrote

It’s like living in the banana republic, Governor Moore

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maiios t1_j56etxt wrote

Replying to NewrytStarcommander (#1,416,550)

The most frustrating thing about the mta's data reporting is how they report OTP, but completely ignore cut runs. I did a bunch of work with the MTA data a few years ago, and I don't think there was any way to track the number of cut runs unless you pulled all of the real time data and stored it (which I did and still struggled to get a good number).

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