[RP TownTalk] O'Malley wants MARC to grow

[Dwight Holmes]

Sometimes when riding the MARC you get the sense that the only people
who know or ever even think about the MARC are all right there on the
train with you...

So - wonderful surprise to find this article in the Post this morning:

Md. Officials Plan To Expand MARC As Region Grows
N.Va. Service, Greater Capacity Sought

By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 25, 2007; Page B01


Gist:
-Triple the capacity over the next 30 years
-Extend service beyond Union Station to L'Enfant Plaza, the Pentagon
and Crystal City (to tie together the Ft Meade area with the Pentagon
area)
-Add a midday train to our Camden Line (and weekend trains to the Penn Line)
-"State officials said the plan would transform a rail system used
almost exclusively at rush hours by District-bound commuters to a mass
transit service more like Metro."

"It lays out a path to gradually transform MARC over a 30-year period
of time into something that resembles public transit," said Henry M.
Kay, deputy administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration,
which oversees MARC. "Rather than being a kind of marginal service
that provides a lot of value for a very small number of people, it
becomes comparable to I-95. There's a lot of capacity over a very long
day."

complete article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/24/AR2007092401655.html