Veteran federal worker Rolf Schmitt does not regularly take the 10:05 p.m. MARC Penn Line train out of Washington. Usually, he is back at his Bolton Hill home much earlier.
But every so often, his job at the U.S. Department of Transportation keeps him at the office late into the evening. It is then that he depends on that train, which the Maryland Transit Administration is proposing to discontinue as of Jan. 12 as a cost-cutting measure.
Schmitt recently made an appeal to Baltimore City Councilman William H. Cole IV, who prompted eight colleagues on the 15-member council to join him in a letter asking Gov. Martin O'Malley to spare the train. They contend that a late train is critical if Baltimore is to attract residents who work in Washington, including members of the incoming Obama administration.
"It makes us a little less attractive for those people we're trying to attract," Cole said.
The 10:05 p.m. train is one of two MARC departures from Washington that the MTA proposes to eliminate as Maryland transportation officials struggle to cope with a severe revenue shortfall that has depleted the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The other train leaves at 11 p.m. As part of an effort to cut its budget by $26 million, the MTA also is proposing to eliminate or pare some commuter bus lines and to reduce MARC services during holidays.
According to MTA spokeswoman Cheron Wicker, the decision to eliminate the late MARC trains is not final. She noted that the agency will be accepting public comments on proposed cutbacks until Dec. 26. The MTA already backed off one of its proposals when it decided not to cut commuter bus service between Columbia and Baltimore as much as originally planned.
The nine City Council members told O'Malley that they are not concerned about the proposed elimination of the 11 p.m. train that his administration had added to the MARC schedule only recently. But they contend that the 10:05 p.m. train to Penn Station is one that Baltimore commuters such as Schmitt have come to depend on for those nights when work - whether at government agencies or high-powered law firms - won't let go.
Schmitt, 58, said he has been using the late train on and off for years. "I'm grateful it's there," he said. "There are occasional nights you have to work late."
Without the 10:05 departure, the last train of the evening would leave Union Station at 8:40 p.m. - a time that could rule out, among other things, many after-work dinners in Washington.
