(The following Associated Press story appeared on the Wasington Post website on August 20.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Service has been restored to some commuter trains in the metro area this morning now that a signal problem has been fixed, but travelers are still being advised to call ahead.
VRE spokesman Mark Roeber says trains are now running on a normal schedule on the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines.
Meantime, MARC officials said they’re still working to get trains up and running on the Camden and Brunswick Lines. A spokesman said it’s not clear when service will return to normal.
MARC officials also said a commuter bus is operating for passengers from Monocacy. Camden Line riders have the alternative of using the Penn Line.
CSX Corporation spokesperson Adam Hollingsworth said the computers that monitor the signal system and train movement went dark about 1:15 this morning and briefly affected the entire CSX system — which covers 23 states east of the Mississippi River.
Hollingsworth stressed that service on about two-thirds of the system was brought back on line very quickly and CSX is doing everything it can to resume normal operations. The cause of the failure hasn’t been determined.