Downed wire delays Amtrak trains to D.C.

Five Washington-bound Amtrak trains were delayed for more than an hour Thursday night after a power line went down north of Baltimore, Amtrak officials said.

Train 137 traveling from Boston to the District halted four miles north of Baltimore just before 9 p.m. when the catenary wire, the train’s power source, went down, said Vernae Graham, an Amtrak spokeswoman. Four other southbound trains were delayed behind Train 137.

It took officials about an hour to reroute the trains around the stranded 137. Amtrak officials transferred 225 passengers from that train onto another southbound train about 10 p.m., Graham said.

It was not clear what caused the wire to fall, she said.

-- Clarence Williams