The MARC train service just sent out an apology about Monday afternoon's messy ride home from Washington on the Penn Line.

This was the sequence of events, according to the MARC statement:

-- Train 450, heading north from Union Station at 5:10 p.m., was delayed when it had to work around a disabled Amtrak train.
-- The engine on Train 450 failed north of Odenton, and restart attempts were unsuccessful.
-- Amtrak decided to push Train 450 into BWI Marshall Station with Train 534. But they had to operate at a reduced speed of 20 mph, delaying other northbound trains.
-- At BWI Station, passengers heading north of Baltimore transferred to Train 440, which extended its run to Perryville for them.
-- Amtrak decided that Train 538, which left Union Station at 6:05, should bypass the West Baltimore and Halethorpe stations and that passengers should return to those stations on southbound Train 443, which left Baltimore's Penn Station at 7:25 p.m.

These problems and the resulting decisions confused riders.

MARC said in the statement that it's addressing the need for "better communications with Amtrak to inform passengers under these circumstances," as well as reviewing the decisions themselves with Amtrak.

By Robert Thomson  |  June 3, 2008; 2:01 PM ET
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