By Michael Dresser and Brent Jones and , michael.dresser@baltsun.com and brent.jones@baltsun.com|November 18, 2008
Thousands of Baltimore-area commuters were forced to abandon trains and board buses yesterday, the first workday disrupted by a light rail shutdown that closed the northern half of the system. State officials were unable to say how long service would be curtailed by a problem caused in part by the fall of autumn leaves.
Commuters attempting to take light rail between North Avenue and Hunt Valley were diverted to shuttle buses, which passengers said added as much as 90 minutes to the trip.
Light rail typically serves 30,000 riders a day - about half of whom use the northern stations.
MTA officials were scrambling to find a way to fix a computerized safety system that regularly over-reacts to slippery conditions and brings trains to a hard stop, frequently damaging their wheels and making them vulnerable to catastrophic cracking.
"I understand there has to be train maintenance, but there seems to be lots of train maintenance recently," said Lori Biddle, 30, who was among several dozen commuters waiting for a shuttle to arrive at the North Avenue station about 4:45 p.m. yesterday.
Biddle said it took her an extra half-hour yesterday morning to go from Lutherville to Camden Yards, where she works: "It is a bit frustrating."
Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari defended the MTA's decision over the weekend to suspend service on the northern section. "They take customer service interruptions very, very personally, as do I," Porcari said. But, he said, "if we ignored it, it could be a safety issue, and safety trumps everything."
Problems with light rail go back to the original design and route of the system, which opened in 1992 under pressure from then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer to get it running in time for the debut of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The northern section of the line follows a narrow, old railroad right of way along the Jones Falls Expressway through forested parkland before emerging from the woods north of Ruxton.
The problem, Porcari said yesterday, is that trains run over fallen leaves and can grind the wet plant matter into what he described as a "gelatinous substance."
When another train comes along, the wheels of its cars can slip and slide on that substance, triggering an emergency response from a computerized "train protection" system installed after two light rail crashes at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, in which 35 people were injured.
