The Dagger has the full details from Aberdeen.

Amtrak bulletin

Northeast Corridor Service Disruption

January 15, 2010
3:05 pm

At 2:22 pm today, all rail traffic was temporarily suspended between Washington, DC and Philadelphia as a result of an investigation of a body found near Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tracks one-half mile south of Aberdeen, Md., station. It is believed the individual whose body was found about 15 feet west of the railroad tracks was struck by a train. Amtrak Police and local police are investigating. Two tracks were reopened at 2:48 pm at restricted speed. Minor delays can be expected for trains operating between Washington and Philadelphia.

Via @wendyscherer, we learn that an Amtrak train has struck a pedestrian on the tracks in the Baltimore area near Wilmington, Delaware and there is a fatality involved.

Previously, MARC sent an email out that trains were delayed between Washington and New Carrollton due to signal problems – this is apparently unrelated.

If the procedure that was followed earlier this month when a high school student was killed walking on the tracks near Middle River, then there will be significant delays for both Amtrak and MARC trains (and maybe SEPTA)  in both directions that will last into Friday afternoon rush hour.

We will post more details on the location and circumstances of the incident as well as details on delays as we learn more.

UPDATE
@wendyscherer tells us she now hears that the incident took place near Wilmington, Delaware. It is unclear what effect this will have on MARC or Amtrak traffic in the Baltimore area.

UPDATE 2
MARC Penn Line Commuters train 535 from Perryville will be delayed undetermined amount of time due to police activity

UPDATE 3

SEPTA indicates trains to/from Wilmington are on time. It would appear that Amtrak passengers not familiar with the MARC stations like Perryville pinpointed the last station they stopped at prior to the incident – which means somewhere between Wilmington and Aberdeen for Amtrak stations. The MARC delay indicates it might be below Perryville or otherwise near there. No word on Amtrak delays.

MARC also reports that MARC train 432 and 450 are canceled to signal problems next service is 534 making all stops. That appears to be related to the DC-New Carrollton signal issues again.

UPDATE 4

MARC train 535 on the move operating 30 minutes late from Perryville

UPDATE 5

MARC train 530 en route to Perryville making all stops

I got the following message from MTA at 9:49:

Penn Line – Train 521 (901a DP PVL) is being delayed by police action in the Middle River area the amount of delay is unknown at this time. We will operat an OT train from BAL at 947a using extra equipment…. more to follow.

I tweeted this information and got a response from @dubweiser pointing to an earlier tweet by @firepix1075:

Baltimore County, MD – Middle River – Old Orems Rd/Middle River Rd BCoFD & PD o/s person struck by train on Amtrak lines, subject is DOA

An update from MTA:

Penn Line:Due to a trespasser strike involving an Amtrak train south of Martin Airport, scheduled train 521 will terminate at Martin Airport, passengers will be transfered to a bus that is en route. Other equipment has departed Baltimore as on time train 521. Updates will follow.

Another MTA update:

Penn Line update #1 – Police action ongoing at Middle river. Train 521 from Perryville is holding at Martins Airport station. We are operating another train from Baltimore on 521 schedule that is currently ontime.

Julia Marsh

Either Vice President Joe Biden or his wife Jill are responsible for the occasional “security hold” delays out of Union Station, said MTA MARC Train Director John Hovatter.

I noticed the “security hold” delays over the past week or so. They have never called them that before when they even bothered to mention them. Reports from numerous MARC passengers indicate that it’s usually accompanied by barricades on the platforms and government vehicles driving right in to the platforms at Union Station. This has been going on off and on at least since Biden’s election as VP in November 2008. The “security hold” delay announcement for MTA just showed up in the past week or two.

I can safely say this since I was a daily MARC passenger from Martin Airport to Union Station every morning from July 2008-July 2009 and then rode back to either BWI or Martin most afternoons on the way home. I still am an occasional MARC passenger but I’m usually lucky enough to leave after morning rush hour and get out of DC before the afternoon rush when possible. I have been subscribed to the MARC (and every other MTA service) email alerts for every single line for sometime now in an effort to provide coverage on this site when major delays (even the ones MTA refers to as minor) pop up.

Maybe this “security hold” reason given for MARC delays is being thrown in for Biden-caused delays to get people ready for the new security checkpoints MARC says they’re implementing starting today? Some call it security theater at this point for MARC to only start these in late 2009.

I have blogged before about passengers emailing about Biden causing their commute to be lengthened by delays during the middle of afternoon rush hour before and I’d heard it firsthand from people waiting on platforms before. In most of those cases a generic delay was given if any delay at all was given. Of course, not giving an explanation for delays is almost SOP at some points with MARC in my past experience.

I have some objections to these delays. The first is security related. I don’t know that the Secret Service cares too much for normal travel by train for the VP or his family. Railroads are on a fixed path which means they can be defended easier but they can also be attacked easier. Those of you who were riding MARC before and after the inauguration earlier this year will remember that many of the parking lots of MARC stations were closed off following Friday service the weekend before the inauguration and that in those days all the big heavy trash cans were removed from the platforms to prevent any devices from being placed in them.

The reason for these security measures: the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect were taking a train excursion from Philadelphia to Washington (with a stop for a speech in Baltimore that ended up being a snub of Mayor Sheila Dixon) on the Saturday before the inaugural. Those lots are all open and the trash cans are all there when Biden takes the train to Wilmington now. MTA’s “security hold” emails could be used as a tip-off for someone planning something farther up the line.

Marsh, of Stuck on MARC, actually likes Biden riding Amtrak because she says, “It’s pretty cool and true to Biden’s blue collar creds that the second couple still uses public transportation.”

I guess Marsh forgets when Biden said earlier this year he would keep his family off public transportation, including subways and commercial airliners, because of the swine flu threat. Biden or his family taking Amtrak at this point is either pure political posturing or pigheadedness.

As I’ve noted, there are likely security concerns for this mode of travel. More importantly, when Biden or his wife decide they want to hop the Northeast Regional home in the middle of the afternoon rush hour they are inconveniencing all of the MARC and Amtrak passengers whose time I contend is just as valuable, if not more valuable, than that of the Bidens.

These very same passengers are being saddled with the security costs and transportation costs of the Bidens and their security arrangements. If the Bidens get their own reserved car, then they are adding to environmental concerns. Riding in their own private car also shows how patrician train travel is for them, rather than the plebeian exercise Julia Marsh would like to make it. Besides, Amtrak is losing $32 a passenger already.

It is good that it is finally confirmed now that Biden and his family are indeed the causes for what used to be unknown delays or delays that were simply assumed to be because of him.

DC Examiner

Virginia Railway Express has chosen a French railway company to operate its commuter trains, giving the foreign-owned company a high-profile launching pad for its first U.S. rail operations while abandoning Amtrak, which has run and maintained the trains since VRE began.

[...]

The board of the commuter train agency voted to award a five-year contract with two optional renewals for up to 15 years total to Keolis Rail Services America, an offshoot of a French company that runs that country’s railways.

[...]

Keolis offered the lowest bid, about $1 million lower than the others, Zimmerman said. It also came in even lower than the existing contract, which costs about $19.6 million, VRE spokesman Mark Roeber said.

But Keolis also was the clear front-runner in other areas, officials said. The contract will allow VRE to set higher standards for employees, Roeber said.

The choice marks a break with Amtrak, after relations have frayed over several years.

This spring VRE pushed Amtrak to conduct more rigorous inspections after a series of failures over 36 hours in March delayed more than 5,000 customers.

[...]

Yet VRE officials say their concerns have been with Amtrak management, not its workers, whom they would like to retain. All will be offered the option of moving over to the new train company, carrying over the same benefits and receiving a signing bonus, Roeber said.

If only we would see MARC and the Maryland MTA pushing Amtrak and CSX to conduct more rigourous inspection and setting higher standards. I doubt it will happen though – MARC has already shown their consistent incompetence in the past.

UPDATE: Michael Dresser blogged about this Monday also. He mentions that CSX wants to get out of passenger business on MARC’s Brunswick and Camden lines. However, MARC is in the 2nd year of a 5 year contract with Amtrak on the Penn Line and has no plans to change providers there.