I'm on the 12:25 to Perryville as I write this (which still hasn't left the station) and MARC seems to be having a meltdown partially of their own doing.
They decided to use a 6-car single level consist even though an 8-car bilevel consist was across the platform which eventually went into the yard. To add insult to injury they use a low-level platform which is a pain with loads of luggage.
Once aboard, there are crush load conditions (which started at 12:15) to the point that police are taking passengers off the train because the vestibules were crowded and the doors could not close. This makes a crush-load on any major Metrobus route look civil
And O'Malley wants to cut this!? I'd rather cut all state funding for the ICC to save money than see unsafe conditions like this persist and expand.
Seperate MARC from the state...Maryland needs an MBTA-like organization.
And to add insult to injury, Amtrak held us at Odenton for 10 minutes to let an SB Acela and an NB Regional (which left after us) pass by us. I know that Amtrak has priority, but all of this just seems asinine.
Is stuff like this SOP on the Penn Line or is this like some perfect storm?
Probably a perfect storm, it is Christmas Eve after all. Perhaps they expected a run with even higher use later in the day and decided to use the 8 car train on that.
It's almost certainly a perfect storm - a number of people are simultaneously and spontaneously allowed to leave early, and they flock to the next train. It seems MARC was at least somewhat prepared, as I've seen 4 car consists on some of the midday Penn Runs regularly. Hoepfully, all that needed to go north of Baltimore managed to get on the train you were on.
For what it's worth - Bilevels are also a tremendous pain with luggage, as the overhead racks are way too small. On a crowded train, it would be big nuissance.