The contract includes the installation of PTC equipment on 32 Marc locomotives and 30 driving cars, as well as the provision of maintenance services until 2017.
MARC operates commuter services over the Brunswick Line from Washington DC to Frederick, Maryland and Martinsburg, West Virginia, and the Camden Line from Washington DC to Baltimore. Both services run over lines owned by class 1 freight railway CSX. Marc's Penn Line traverses Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) from Washington through Baltimore to Perryville, Maryland. Amtrak's Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) is already active on much of the NEC, and Amtrak says the entire corridor will be covered by ACSES by the end of 2015.
Amtrak and Marc plan to build test track north of Perryville to test Marc equipment's compatibility with ACSES at speeds of more than 127km/h using a $US 700,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration.
