Wiedefeld said some of the electric locomotives used on the Penn Line have been out of service for scheduled maintenance, forcing MARC to use older diesel engines.
MTA spokeswoman Jawauna Greene said Maryland has a contract with Amtrak under which the national passenger railroad is obligated to maintain MARC locomotives.
"We are in constant communications with Amtrak about the service," she said.
Mark Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said he was not aware of specific complains.
"Certainly, if MARC is concerned about maintenance procedures or the timeliness of maintenance, then we'll work with them to satisfy them," he said.
Greene said the problems on the CSX-owned Camden and Brunswick lines are more weather-related than anything else. In hot weather, the freight railroad regularly imposes heat restrictions that slow trains to a crawl as a safety precaution.
MARC might also, to an extent, be a victim of its own success. Because of increased ridership, Greene said, MARC has had to run trains more frequently, with heavier loads and with more cars, all of which put additional stress on locomotives.
With the track and maintenance issues in large part beyond its control, Greene said the area in which MARC could improve was in its communication with customers.
McDowell said it's good to see the MTA chief communicating with customers.
"Whether they believe it or not is another story," he said.
Walsh said Wiedefeld's e-mail shows the MTA is trying to do some of the right things over the long term but that his message holds out little hope of immediate relief.
"It offers you no hope near-term," Walsh said. "That's not going to get me back to my car tonight."
michael.dresser@baltsun.com
