Happenings on the MARC line

[avgeeky]

Who's rebuilding the MARC Hippo's? BBD??

I would assume Bombardier or Alstrom (or both, because both built the Hippos the begin with). From an initial search, I think MARC is the only railroad running the Hippos.

From the way he said it, it sounded like this was an in-house job with little involvement from either of the two companies. FWIW, he also mentioned that MTA actually asked the bank about taking over the Amtrak-leased HHP-8s and running them instead or just using them for spares. The bank refused, even after MTA offered to pay more than what Amtrak was/is paying for them.

[STrRedWolf]

From the way he said it, it sounded like this was an in-house job with little involvement from either of the two companies. FWIW, he also mentioned that MTA actually asked the bank about taking over the Amtrak-leased HHP-8s and running them instead or just using them for spares. The bank refused, even after MTA offered to pay more than what Amtrak was/is paying for them.

Doubtful. Bombardier is under contract for maintenance of the rail cars themselves, I think at the Riverside or Martins State yards.

[STrRedWolf]

MARC 435 broke down at Seabrook, and somehow ended up requiring single-tracking around the area that delayed all northbound trains for upwards of an hour, and eventually had a maximum delay of 90 minutes.

[ThirdRail7]

MARC 435 broke down at Seabrook, and somehow ended up requiring single-tracking around the area that delayed all northbound trains for upwards of an hour, and eventually had a maximum delay of 90 minutes.

The single tracking shouldn't be a surprise since three track has been out of service for quite some time. With 9435 disabled on two track, that only leaves one track available for service in both directions. A lot of the delays had were due to late turns of crews and equipment.

[STrRedWolf]

MARC 435 broke down at Seabrook, and somehow ended up requiring single-tracking around the area that delayed all northbound trains for upwards of an hour, and eventually had a maximum delay of 90 minutes.

The single tracking shouldn't be a surprise since three track has been out of service for quite some time. With 9435 disabled on two track, that only leaves one track available for service in both directions. A lot of the delays had were due to late turns of crews and equipment.

Any word on how long the track work around Seabrook is going to be? I didn't see that in the notices MARC pushes out...

[ThirdRail7]

MARC 435 broke down at Seabrook, and somehow ended up requiring single-tracking around the area that delayed all northbound trains for upwards of an hour, and eventually had a maximum delay of 90 minutes.

The single tracking shouldn't be a surprise since three track has been out of service for quite some time. With 9435 disabled on two track, that only leaves one track available for service in both directions. A lot of the delays had were due to late turns of crews and equipment.

Any word on how long the track work around Seabrook is going to be? I didn't see that in the notices MARC pushes out...

It shouldn't be too much longer. The undercutter is finished and the surfacing gang is actually working between Seabrook and Carroll. They did 1 track prior to 3 track. What I don't know is if they plan to do anything with 2 track. I'm hearing rumblings they may blitz the area between NWK-NYP this summer, so who actually knows what will happen next?

[ThirdRail7]

The work between Bowie and Carroll is wrapping up. Next on the list is 3 track between Bridge and Grove. This will impact few trains and leave two tracks between Grove and Winans and three of racks between Winans and Bridge. Hopefully, the outage does not include the limits of Bridge. That would cause single tracking between Bridge and Fulton.

[STrRedWolf]

The work between Bowie and Carroll is wrapping up. Next on the list is 3 track between Bridge and Grove. This will impact few trains and leave two tracks between Grove and Winans and three of racks between Winans and Bridge. Hopefully, the outage does not include the limits of Bridge. That would cause single tracking between Bridge and Fulton.

They were doing work on track 3 between Winans and Bridge in February this year! What did they miss this time?

[RRspatch]

The work between Bowie and Carroll is wrapping up. Next on the list is 3 track between Bridge and Grove. This will impact few trains and leave two tracks between Grove and Winans and three of racks between Winans and Bridge. Hopefully, the outage does not include the limits of Bridge. That would cause single tracking between Bridge and Fulton.

Good thing they installed the No.23 switch at Bridge. This will allows a parallel move from 3 to 2 southbound and 1/A to 2 northbound. The No.32 switch at Carroll also helps. Wish I had those options back in my CETC 1 daze ...

BTW - how will the ACELA's platform at BWI as they don't have traps? I assume they'll use platform bridges across No.3 track ...

[STrRedWolf]

The work between Bowie and Carroll is wrapping up. Next on the list is 3 track between Bridge and Grove. This will impact few trains and leave two tracks between Grove and Winans and three of racks between Winans and Bridge. Hopefully, the outage does not include the limits of Bridge. That would cause single tracking between Bridge and Fulton.

Good thing they installed the No.23 switch at Bridge. This will allows a parallel move from 3 to 2 southbound and 1/A to 2 northbound. The No.32 switch at Carroll also helps. Wish I had those options back in my CETC 1 daze ...

BTW - how will the ACELA's platform at BWI as they don't have traps? I assume they'll use platform bridges across No.3 track ...

There's some clues with the latest release from MTA:

All trains may experience delays of 5 to 10 minutes while operating through the trackwork area.

In order to ensure on time operation and speed loading and unloading of passengers, morning southbound trains to Washington will board on the northbound track at West Baltimore, Halethorpe and BWI Marshall Airport Rail Station. This will be in effect for Trains 401 through and including Train 421. Starting with Train 523, trains will return to their normal operating pattern.

So yes, there will be platform bridges. I have noticed them at BWI and Halethorpe ready to be put in. West Baltimore is a low-level and doesn't need them.

What's fun is that they'll do a morning platform swap. I would of thought the northbound trains would stop on the opposite track as well during the mornings. I doubt they can go GROVE to WINANS fast enough on track 1 just to get through, and since it's lower weight, I would think Amtrak would simplify the operation.

[STrRedWolf]

Train 400 was cancelled due to hitting a deer. This cancelled 415 and caused minor delays.

[STrRedWolf]

Looks like we had an engine issue on 406 today, which had a MP-36 on it. It never hit over 80 mph which makes me think it was running on rule 556.

[STrRedWolf]

Major hit on the MARC today due to signal & switch problems at Union Station. Single tracking on the Penn between New Carrollton and DC. CSX lines are cut off.

Brunswick Line terminating at Silver Spring. Camden line terminating at Greenbelt. Penn encouraging folks to transfer at New Carrollton.

[dcmike]

Had an interesting experience over the weekend on the Penn Line.

Was riding southbound in cab car 7848 near the control stand, there was a loud bell that was intermittently but persistently ringing. A concerned passenger actually approached the control stand, opened the door, and demanded an answer from the engineer - who promptly and correctly threw the guy out. But the engineer didn't say anything except "don't worry about it, it's under control".

At the next few station stops, the train would service the station, begin to move and suddenly all the lights and HVAC went out. The train would continue rolling for a few hundred feet, the lights came back on, and the entire train started jerking (not violently but very noticeably), then continue accelerating smoothly. This happened about 3 times, then I became concerned myself and moved to the center of the train so I don't know if the bell kept ringing. Eventually completed the trip to Union Station without further problems.

What was that about?

[mtuandrew]

Do you know what power was on the train? In the Cascades Derailment thread pinned at the top of the Amtrak forum, a number of engineers & conductors have been noting problems with the Siemens SC-44 not playing well with other equipment.