In news that’s no shock to anyone who actually is a commuter on MARC, the deployment of the first of the new locomotives unveiled in May are being delayed.

UPDATE: I missed the Michael Dresser article that WBAL based their whole story on thanks to some connectivity issues I had earlier. Be sure to read it for even more insight into the mind of the average MARC customer as well as the MTA spin on this matter.

WBAL.com:

When a new MARC system diesel locomotive was unveiled in early May, officials estimated that it would be in service in four to six weeks.

State officials said the $100 million fleet of 26 new locomotives would help relieve overcrowding and improve reliability.

But 10 weeks later, the locomotive and two others are still undergoing safety testing.

Maryland Transit Administration spokeswoman Jawauna Greene says no problems have been found and the agency now hopes the locomotives will be in service within 30 days.

Greene says the delay just shows that the safety department is independent and won’t be rushed by artificial deadlines.

But some MARC riders say it looks like MTA is not following through on its promises.

In the summer of 2009, MARC announced that they paid $22 million to purchase 13 double-decker Kawasaki cars from VRE. These cars were expected to be in service by the fall after slight safety modifications. I asked where these new cars were in a November blog post after a Penn Line train was running short a car. Trains continued to have issues with cars sporadically since then.

The announcement of these new locomotives also announced that these 13 cars would finally be put into service this spring as well, going on a year after they were originally purchased. As of a week or so ago, there were still cars parked on a siding at Middle River not being used that are apparently these cars. The cars parked there are in MARC livery, however I saw an old VRE car parked just outside the switch at Union Station recently connected to other MARC cars that may be one of these.

I found an old blog post where I pointed out that MARC was paying VRE about $12 million for cars that VRE originally spent about $13 million for and then MARC was spending more money on them refurbishing them and getting them ready for service. That post also mentions that several engines were overhauled last summer and that was supposed to improve service.

Locomotive problems have been increasing in the spring and summer with the existing fleet. The last 2 days I rode the MARC train my commute from Martin Airport to DC was lengthened by 20 minutes due to locomotive problems (approaching Penn Station one day and BWI the other.) The 2nd day that happened, Metro problems caused my total commute to be 3 hours. MARC had even bigger problems the day after that when problems resulted in a 3.5 hour commute from BWI to Union Station. This was characterized as a “minor disruption” by MTA.

Michael Dresser’s original article on the new locos had MARC officials saying the first one would be in service by May 18 and the other 2 (of the first 3) by June 1. After that, 1 or 2 a month were supposed to be delivered until next summer.

Obviously, MARC knew the delay for these new locomotives would take place before May 18 or June 1 but they just now, halfway through July, have the decency to say anything about the fact that these 3 locomotives may not be in service until the latter part part of August.

That is apparently because their customers are a captive audience for the most part. It is pretty churlish of Jawaunna Greene to put out a statement that these delays show how safe MARC is because the testing wasn’t held to an “artificial deadline.”

Most of MARC’s problems are communications one and this latest fiasco looks like just another excuse in the long line of excuses given to their customers (people who pay a lot of money for a service that may or may not be working on any given day.)

Most of the time you find out about a delay on your train until you already know it’s pretty late and often times after you’ve already boarded it thanks to their wonderful email alert system. There have been quite a few locos swapped out in recent months at Union Station due to problems and there was a prior delay announcement (on the television monitors) once that I encountered. Sometimes a MARC or Amtrak liveried employee would walk around and tell a few people that there was a delay and sometimes it would even be announced over the PA system at Union Station. Of course, they would also announce that if you had a flight at BWI to catch during one of these loco swap delays that you should take the Camden Line to Camden Yards and then light rail to BWI, instead of saying you should take Metro to the B30 bus at Greenbelt.

There were times I didn’t know what the delay was until the loco swap was completed because no one bothered to tell anyone as well. The same MARC employee who told people the roundabout route to BWI also flat out lied to customers at times because of his inability to control the crowd of people waiting to board a train. Back during the fall and winter (and sometimes since then) there have been half-hearted attempts to make customers stay in the waiting areas at gate A-D at Union Station instead of rushing out to the platform when their train (often inexplicably delayed) arrives.

On one occasion, this employee told MARC customers that there was a Hazmat situation on the arriving train and that it would have to be checked out before we could board. Most of the people still ignored him. Another time, I heard him tell customers that our train was delayed arriving due to the fact that the Phildaelphia Flyers were inbound on an Amtrak train. A few minutes later our train arrived (and no Amtrak train arrived before it.) I checked the NHL schedule on my laptop on the train ride home and noticed the Flyers had a game later that night in Canada and the Capitals were on the road then as well, with no home games for a few days.

The lack of communication and flat out lies coupled with all the service issues leads to the almost riotous situation on the Union Station platform that occurred last summer when locomotive problems caused cancellations and delays and dangerous overcrowding (something that happens more than MARC admits to) on trains.

These delays cause a domino effect and thanks to Amtrak and CSX owning the rails, results in MARC getting pushed to the back of the line anytime something goes wrong. Even when the new locomotives actually go into service, I’m not convinced that they will be maintained properly or that the delays will go away. The average MARC customer has no confidence in any facet of the service.

I heard from a passenger after a delay earlier this year that left customers sweltering on a train broken down near Seabrook (the one where customers opened the emergency windows and left the train via the vestibule as well) that while they roasted on the train with little in the way of updates, that the train’s crew was outside where it was cooler for the whole delay. In fact, one of them allegedly left the key in the switch in the vestibule of a car that allowed customers to exit the train that way. of course, that problem was blamed on Amtrak.

The excuses are so bad that customers play a guessing game on the platform as to what the excuses are going to be before the delayed email about a delay arrives. The customer service issues boil down to one thing that I’ve heard echoed by numerous customers (some of who work in transportation or know a lot about trains): everytime something goes wrong, MARC acts like it is the first time it has ever happened.

Luckily I’m on a brief respite from MARC right now. If my job search lands me another job in DC, I will grudgingly go back to riding the rails everyday.

UPDATE: Thanks to Michael Dresser for linking to this post at his blog.

Other coverage:
WBFF