Baltimore’s subway got new trains. So why are delays piling up?

When the Maryland Transit Administration announced that a new fleet of train cars on Baltimore’s Metro would begin to be phased into service at the start of the year, officials assured riders the trains would soon cut wait times in half, prevent any unexpected delays and help usher in a new life for the struggling subway line.

But seven months after the rollout began, agency statistics show that on-time performance has declined.

Over the second half of last year, 95% of trains arrived on time, according to the MTA’s public dashboard. Since the MTA introduced a new train into the mix in January, that’s dropped to 87%.

The delays are largely the result of challenges that come with operating a mixed fleet of old and new trains, said outgoing MTA Administrator Holly Arnold. The first six of 78 new railcars hit the tracks in January, and the rest will roll into Baltimore by the end of next year.

Arnold emphasized in a recent interview that the old trains and new ones operate together safely, “but sometimes they’re not always friends,” she said.

The new trains use different, more modern communication technology. That has forced old trains to completely clear a given segment of track before a new train can enter it, which can lead to delays. An agency official compared it to trying to connect high-speed internet to dial-up infrastructure.

The agency does not yet have enough railcars for full service using only new trains, Arnold said. Once it does by year’s end, delays should significantly improve, and some old trains will serve as backups until the rest of the 78 new cars arrive.

The new trains and system controls — together a $554 million system upgrade — are step one in an attempted rebirth for the struggling Metro line. The roughly 14-mile line, which runs from Owings Mills in northwest Baltimore County to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, carries more than 12,000 people a day.

Although officials say smoother days are ahead, the hiccups are hurting commuters and residents who say they rely on the line every day. Meanwhile, many riders continue to express long-standing frustrations that go beyond just delays, citing dirty trains, turnstile jumpers and open illicit drug use on board.

“It seems wild — the old trains are still going, but the new trains are the ones having the problem,” said Robert Hammond, an East Baltimore resident who uses the subway most days, including to commute to his job in Owings Mills.

On a recent Tuesday, Hammond, who was on his way to pick up his paycheck, had already been waiting 10 minutes at the Johns Hopkins station when he saw a sign indicating that the next train would arrive in eight minutes.

Suddenly, the wait time ticked up to 22 minutes.

“I really rely on this [train], I gotta get to where I’m going,” Hammond said. Recently, he’s been late to work more often, and though his boss is mostly understanding, Hammond said he “can’t keep making train excuses.”

Baltimore’s subway opened in 1983 with an eight-mile section that drew great fanfare and was later extended to its current endpoints. It was supposed to be just the first piece of an entire subway network connecting much more of the region.

Instead, the grand ambition to build a subway network like Washington’s never left the station. Federal funds to build new lines became increasingly difficult to obtain, forcing state officials to shelve the network’s expansion. Ridership on the existing line then declined as commuting patterns changed, and the overall quality and cleanliness of the system fell as well, riders said.

Officials have recently been trying to breathe new life into Baltimore’s subterranean system. Alongside the new trains and a better control system, city and state officials hope to encourage the building of new homes around stations to bolster ridership.

And they’re leaning into the investment.

A billboard downtown advertised one of the new trains; a plush version of a new railcar is even available on the MTA’s online store. In January, local politicos took a ride and lined up for a photo op after transportation officials touted how a fully revamped train fleet would cut riders’ wait times in half.

While waiting for those on-time improvements, riders say they have other concerns beyond delays.

Angela Jones, of Reisterstown, said riding the subway can be uncomfortable, even scary.

She described boarding trains that smell of urine and seeing other riders smoking and using drugs on board. Jones added that she checks seats before sitting down to make sure she doesn’t get poked by needles.

In about a dozen rider interviews, almost all called for an increased presence of police or transit officials to deter harmful infractions like smoking. Many also cited the large presence of unhoused people on the trains and a desire to connect them to support services.

“We just need to come up with a better solution,” Jones said.

On a recent afternoon, she waited nearly 45 minutes for her train from downtown to Reisterstown Road. Between the delays and the discomfort on board, she said she’s considering driving to work instead.

Earlier this month, the MTA announced that a new team of customer experience “ambassadors” will start riding both the subway and Light Rail on Sept. 1 to help enforce the rules. They’ll be trained in de-escalation techniques and be able to radio the police when necessary and help ensure fare compliance. The agency also launched a new online dashboard that shows safety incidents across the transit network.

On a recent Friday, Stacia Maynor, who works at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, waited an hour for a new train to arrive — only to find out that it was going out of service. Eventually an old train whisked Maynor and a large crowd away.

Maynor credited the subway with being fast and reliable “75 to 80% of the time.” But it’s the 20% to 25% of delayed trips that make people late for work or school and stick with them, she said.

In just a couple of stops, she’d have to head south via the Light Rail, another Baltimore transit line that has been arriving at stops later so far this year, according to agency figures.

Her commute, she said with a smile, “is always an adventure.”