Blank schedule screens and tardy service alerts leave passengers in the lurch

When I arrived at Union Station around 6:30 tonight to catch my 6:40 Penn Line train home to Baltimore the computer screens displaying arrival and departure times inside the station and out on the platform were blank.

I checked my Blackberry and the lastest service alert said that Penn's 6:05 was ten minutes late, but word of mouth concluded that the train would be canceled. No MARC officials were around so I hedged my bets and took the 6:43 Camden instead.

Good thing as I'm just now being informed via email that the situation is totally ?+"*#:

- At 6:37 I received an alert that the 6:05 was cancelled

- At 6:51 I learned that the 6:40 was running 30 minutes behind

- At 7:23 I discovered that 5:55 was taken out of service.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry