ATLANTA — MARTA riders taking the train to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport tomorrow should give themselves extra time because a disabled train is still stuck on the tracks at the airport station.
Channel 2's Christian Jennings spoke Wednesday to a MARTA spokesperson, who said a crew will need a crane to get the train back on the tracks.
Officials say the crane to lift the train will not come until Thursday and warn that travelers should leave 30 minutes early just to be safe. They do expect the service will be back to normal sometime Thursday.
"I think this situation proves MARTA is ready to respond and if we have a situation that we call in all required personnel," said David Springstead, MARTA's chief of rail operations.
People I talked to at the airport today told me the derailment and transition to shuttle buses at the College Park station didn’t slow down their commute. How did it impact YOUR day? Let me know! I want to hear from you. Did you experience major delays? Or was it smooth sailing? pic.twitter.com/c5EQHSq3N7
— Christian Jennings (@CJenningsWSB) January 16, 2019
Update: Technical problem currently at Airport station. Bus shuttles are provided for patrons NB & SB-Read more: https://t.co/oaLQ8Jxnnt
— MARTA (@MARTASERVICE) January 16, 2019
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MARTA officials say two cars on an out-of-service train derailed around 9 p.m. Tuesday at the airport station, causing train service to stop in both directions on the red and gold lines.
No passengers were on board and the rail operator was not hurt.
Passengers trying to get to the airport must get off at the College Park station, where a shuttle train and buses are taking people back and forth.
The agency is investigating what caused the issue.
The airport said in a tweet that the MARTA issues are having “minimal impacts” on travelers and that northbound service out of the airport station was operating normally.
Today’s #MARTA incident has minimal impacts on ATL travelers. Passengers traveling on MARTA from ATL to points north depart from Airport as usual. Southbound MARTA pax will transfer to shuttle buses from College Park Station to Airport. Monitor @MARTAalerts for more info.
— Atlanta Airport (@ATLairport) January 16, 2019
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