Another Day on MARC Trains

The first indication that the commute home on Monday might have a problem dropped into my email Inbox at 3:54 with the message: "Due to a broken down train just outside Union Station, all inbound and outbound Penn Line trains will be delayed 30 to 40 minutes. Some Brunswick Line trains may be delayed also. Metro will honor MARC tickets." Stopped across the hall to give the heads up to the company CFO since he rides the Brunswick trains. He replied," Oh that's not good." I agreed.

I made plans to leave a few minutes earlier to get an earlier train if possible, even if it was not going to depart until after my usual 538 train that leaves at 5:20 on a good day. Friday a week earlier sudden storm cells attacked the District causing massive delayed departures and slow running due to power outages, trees on the tracks and catenaries and eventually flooding. That day ended with a five hour commute back to Baltimore at the BWI Airport. On that day I missed getting an earlier train by a minute and boarded the 538 and waited for our departure. That is when the storms hit and hit hard. The minimal delays became longer and I activated SOP #1. That procedure was to get off the train and head to the Center Café in Union Station for drinks, food and mutual commuter grousing about how bat it was and how much we did not really care because we were at the Café and not stuck on a stranded train. Only Barbara and I from our regular group took that option. Others braved the Camden Line and eventually arrived home about one hour earlier than Barb and me.

By 4:39 the MARC service notification system was reporting that Penn Line trains were on the move again, the 3:23 departure was 70 minutes late and the following 3 trains would depart in order.

I arrived at Union Station and wended my way through the forest of people standing around paying more attention to their cell phones and iPads then the fact that they were standing squarely in the middle of the hall. The corridor to the trains was full. The queue area inside the main station was full and the waiting areas with the seats were all packed with delayed commuters. I looked around for familiar faces and seeing none I texted the Gang who have text numbers with "Bob @ 4:58 ~~ MARC Fubar = Center Café ~~ Who knows. It's still early. Major crowds from earlier trains that did not pull out. Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld. I went to the Café and ordered a beer. The other from the gang were not responsive. I sent a follow up message: Big time crowd a Union. I'm going pre-emptively to the Center Café to wait for "announcements." Kaycee was the only one to reply with:"LOL @ pre-emptively."

I was enjoying my second beer and conversation with a man who had come down from NYC in the morning for a meeting and was really in need of being on his way back. He was somber and resigned to the fact that soon he would have a soft seat and a 3 hour sleep if he wanted it. Little did he know of the collision of events that he was soon to experience. Mike texted that our 5:20 departing train was boarding on track 12. I had nine minutes by the schedule to get there so I settled my tab and sped over after replying that I was on my way. Many of the regular gang was already there. George, Billy, Kristin, Sandy, Ted, Mark and Kathy, Lisa Marie and even Shelly were all seated and hopeful of an imminent departure. Surprisingly we made a timely departure and slowly eked our way out of the station and into the switch yard. That pesky Amtrak train was gone, or backed into the station or something. Whatever its fate, we were on our way home.

The going was slow through to New Carrollton due to the ongoing snafus that had held up all the traffic. One report suggested that there might have been some signal problem up the line that had interfered with the earlier trains. A few miles up the line is where the real trouble started. Up to just then the delays were all virtual and imminent. Right there is where they became eminent. While moving slowly along the line, the train lost HVAC and lighting power and the train rolled along in an eerie silence. Without the air blowers going the mechanical sounds of the train are actually very quiet. When all goes silent it is difficult to say whether the train is still under power or just coasting. When power is lost it takes about a minute to realize that you are slowing down to a stop. Many times the train slows but doesn't stop. We proceed in back up to cruising speed and everything is alright. This Monday evening, the train slowed then came to a sudden halt.

The HVAC and lights returned for a few seconds at a time with about a minute or two between. We were not moving and that was what concerned us. One of our female Conductors came through the car from the head end at a brisk pace. I said, "Hello, goodbye," as she passed on through. A few minutes later she returned and looked at me. "There you are, I was looking for you." She then disappeared toward the head end again.

Kristin said, "She did see you? She must not have been looking." I said, "when people don't see the wheelchair, I can be invisible." That is a common occurrence when someone is looking for a dominant feature. My comment got a little chuckle from several members of the Gang.

The MARC that had followed us out of the station stopped on out right side. Our announcement said that the motor had a mechanical problem that was not able to be remedied any time soon. All passengers destined for Martin’s Airport would be taken on by the 640 train that was sitting next to us. They figured about 140 people met that criterion. Later the next day, Larry emailed me that more like 400 passenger got that transfer. As it was leaving and leaving the rest of us behind, Ted commented that the “Carpathia had just steamed away.” About half the folks in our seating area caught the reference.

An Amtrak train heading south to DC stopped on the track on the left of us. I started a line of humor imitating a PA announcement that was being made on the Amtrak train “Ladies and Gentlemen, do not look out the left side windows. There is nothing to see. Out the right side of our train – oh, look naked people…” Soon there was a metallic banging and clanging sound emanating from the vestibule at the end of our car. It continued for several minutes until our female Conductor came walking past us carrying a long handled sledge hammer. Apparently the railroad keeps such a tool in a cabinet somewhere on board for whatever use they may need to put it. After a few whack sounds she and another Conductor came to me and said it was time to go. I had to get off right there without explanation of to where I was heading. The train had been going to DC and still was. Lisa Marie had not been too far afield when she joke that all the Gang sitting together could actually pick me up and carry me to the rescue train if necessary.

The combined train crews of MARC and Amtrak along with a couple more people who were railroad workers had constructed a bridge between the doors of the two trains and they now wanted me to roll across it. The span was about 5 feet and down about a foot and a half. Part of the construction was a train-to-train grounding wire that was attached like a long battery jumper cable. This assured that there was no electrical potential difference between the trains or a residual static charge build up that could shock anyone who could touch both trains or a train and the aluminum bridge. Both our trains were pulled by electric motor that took voltages off the overhead catenaries.

In short order I was on the Amtrak train and sitting in the alcove next to a baby carriage (with baby) and talking with the parents who were wondering what was going on. They did not seem to have been apprised of the purpose of their unscheduled stop. Another woman walked up the aisle to get some word from me who had just appeared while they were stopped. I explained that the train outside their left side windows was a disabled train heading north to Baltimore and the Amtrak was taking on a few passengers before continuing south to DC. They took down the bridge and closed up the doors. We moved on to New Carrollton.

They stopped there and left it to me to figure that that was supposed to be where I would get off. No one actually said that I should do that, but I opted to go figuring that the next MARC would be by soon enough. The platform announcement was that there would be a 6-something train departing DC but they had no information for when. A man with a white cane stood on the platform checking info on a cell phone. I asked him if he was getting sufficient information so as to know what was happening. He was satisfied that he was getting enough. Just then I saw a MARC train backing into the NC station from the north. I told the man that it was a MARC and that it would be going north eventually.

My having seen it stopped north of NC made me wonder if I should have gone all the way back to Union Station. It was fortunate that I did not. Alice, a familiar Conductor, leaned out the door of the third car saying they had come back especially for me. I said thanks and could they take my new friends too? About a dozen of us boarded there and were soon heading north again.

We stopped on the right of the disabled 538 train from while I had just disembarked. On this side of the train the #1 track and the #2 track are about 20 feet apart. There would be no feasibility to build a bridge between these two trains. The ambulatory passengers arrived in streams from three doors, across the ballast rocks and into the 442 train where I now sat. A few people now boarding expressed relief when they saw me that I had gotten off and was there. Previously, I feigned concern that everyone else was going to get off and have to leave me behind to wait out whatever the final outcome of the breakdown was. Lisa Marie poked her head in the door to say hello before going to the next car to get a seat.

After transferring the remaining several hundred passengers to the 442, we moved on to make all stops to BWI and Penn Station. The remaining trip lasted until about 7:45 and I was home by 8:00. And there was the beginning and the end of another MARC Commuting Adventure.

After all that transpired and was done to remedy the bad day, the railroads did an admirable job. MARC Crews, Amtrak Crews and the railroad workers along with the operational personnel located in their communications centers all coordinated to minimize the fallout from the mechanical failure. Twelve-hundred stranded commuters were accommodated with the Plan B protocols. They were not happy about being delayed, but even 10 minutes late at BWI creates a level of antipathy that even the Frankenstein Monster would cower from like when the villagers come after him with flaming torches and pitchforks.

Not withstanding the cause of the original failure that stopped the train between stations, the engineer and crew on the train all did their remediation procedures in a timely and efficient manner. As with all unexpected occurrences such as this one, each one is different and requires a flexible response that doesn't always include passenger information to the level that people want. We didn't get a "rescue engine" like the MARC/Amtrak management said we would for such instances. Water bottles were not in al the overhead racks, but as many commuters know, they and other took undue advantage of the "free water." You all know who you are and know others who partook.

With the failed motor that definitely was not going to move again any time soon, the engineer concentrated on restoring the HVAC and lights. They were back in about 15 minutes. There are hundreds of modes of failure in a transportation system such as a railroad. The best we can hope for is that we choose to be on vacation, work from home or be away on business travel when a major delay happens in the future.

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