Proposed plan for the agency’s future office building at New Carrollton will be integrated into an urbanized town center.
The scope of work includes operations; maintenance of a fleet of diesel locomotives and commuter railcars; customer service; station and facility maintenance; and maintenance of rail infrastructure for the portion of the Brunswick Line owned by MTA.
Kevin Quinn, who has been the MTA’s director of planning and programming, was named as acting administrator, replacing Paul Comfort.
Supporters say the “farebox recovery ratio” mandate, in place since at least the 1990s, discouraged the state from investing in transit systems to make them more appealing and, in turn, increase revenues.
Fleet of 120 Silverliner Vs were taken out of service on July 1 following the discovery of cracks in equalizer beams on most of the vehicles.
The agency removed 120 Silverliner V trains from service earlier this month after workers discovered a serious structural defect on the trains.
The addition of the equipment has helped the agency expand its offerings; however, overcrowding was still an issue on Monday. The agency is still looking into more equipment-leasing options.
The commuter service began running multi-level Bombardier railcars with more seating capacity, introduced bike cars, and expanded operation to weekends and holidays.
The project includes adding a fourth track to nine miles of the Northeast Corridor surrounding BWI and reconfiguring the platforms to allow boarding from all four tracks.
Average weekday ridership on all three MARC lines is roughly 37,500 riders. The MARC III bi-level commuter railcars have been in service nearly 17 years.