Photo by Mark Fischer on Flickr.

Since the middle of July, the Maryland Transit Administration has posted a MARC train daily service digest. The site shows each day’s delayed trains (by train number), as well as a short explanation of the reason for the delay.

For trains during the afternoon peak, the website also shows whether or not the train arrived at its final destination on time, and the train’s on-time performance for month-to-date and year-to-date.

We should congratulate MTA for providing this information to its riders. Now, what can we learn from it?

First, that MARC’s on-time performance has room for improvement, especially for specific afternoon trains.

For example, as of October 5, on the Penn Line, train 426 to Baltimore (leaving Union Station at 3:25 pm) had a year-to-date on-time percentage of only 70%. For train 538 to Perryville (leaving Union Station at 6:15 pm), it is 72%. On the Brunswick Line, train 877 to Martinsburg (the “Blue Ridge Express”, leaving Union Station at 4:55 pm) has an on-time percentage of 69%.

On the other hand, the website also shows which afternoon trains are most likely to be on time. The on-time percentage of Penn Line train 428 to Baltimore (an express, leaving Union Station at 4:15 pm) is 88%. For Camden Line train 854 to Baltimore (leaving Union Station at 6:43 pm), it is 92%. And for Brunswick Line train 895 to Frederick (leaving Union Station at 6:30 pm), it is 86%.

Also, the explanations of the delays indicate the major problems on each MARC line. On the Penn Line, which operates on tracks owned by Amtrak, delays often involve interference by Amtrak trains. On the Camden and Brunswick Lines, which operate on tracks owned by CSX, delays often involve signal problems and interference by CSX trains. Unfortunately, MTA’s ability to fix these problems is limited.

Finally, the explanations also show that, especially on the Camden and Brunswick Lines, a delay on one train often causes delays on subsequent trains. For example, on September 22, on the Brunswick Line, train 893 (leaving Union Station at 5:15 pm) was delayed due to signal problems; this caused a delay for train 879 (leaving Union Station at 5:40 pm), following train 893.

On September 27, on the Camden Line, train 855 (leaving Baltimore at 5:15 pm) was 19 minutes late arriving at Union Station due to signal problems, which caused train 854 (leaving Union Station at 6:43 pm) to be delayed because it uses the same equipment as train 855.

More crews, more equipment, and a third track would presumably fix these problems. But that costs money. In 2007, MTA proposed a MARC Growth and Investment Plan costing about $3.9 billion in capital investments through 2035. However, “due to the challenge of the economic downturn,” the plan has no funding. Too bad there isn’t an extra $3 billion or so lying around.