Md. Drops Plan to Shutter Little-Used MARC Stations

Maryland transportation officials, under fire for their decision to close four underused MARC train stations, including two in northern Montgomery County, reversed their decision yesterday.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan said the decision was prompted by the expectation that the General Assembly would pass a bill to delay the closings by a year. The bill, which the Senate Finance Committee approved Thursday, would have allowed the closures only after transportation officials justified their rationale to the General Assembly.

"It became clear that the legislation would pass," Flanagan said. "What may be clear to me is not necessarily clear to an average MARC customer. It seemed to me that the customers were being left in a state of uncertainty during this time period."

The Maryland Transit Administration announced last month that the four stations -- Montgomery's Boyds and Dickerson stations on the Brunswick Line and Howard County's Jessup station and Baltimore County's St. Denis station on the Camden Line -- would close March 6. A combined daily average of only 41 commuters use the four stations, officials said, and the low ridership and escalating costs prompted the decision.

The decision to close the stations was met with protests from residents and politicians, including Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D) and the County Council. A group of legislators, led by Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Montgomery) and Del. Jean B. Cryor (R-Montgomery), proposed emergency bills to stop or delay the closings.

Flanagan said he would establish an advisory committee of MARC commuters to study the issue. He said the committee would discuss whether the stations should close and also address complaints that the low ridership is a result of poor advertising and infrequent train service.

"We in the Department of Transportation are very much focused on improving and increasing MARC service," he said.

The lawmakers who oppose the closure said they would continue to push their bills as extra protection.

"My hope is that this advisory committee takes a look at how to better utilize these stations, how to increase ridership and how to get people off the roads," Garagiola said. "Mass transit is a transportation solution we need to be encouraging as opposed to discouraging."