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(Enlarge) Allen Lizer, left, wades through an area flooded by a water main break while James Jones and Eledenwan Blackwell look on. The Department of Public Works employees were called to the scene near the intersection of Southwestern Boulevard and Washington Boulevard in Halethorpe after a break on Wednesday caused a mudslide that delayed train service on the nearby tracks. (Staff photo by Sarah Nix)

All MARC and Amtrak train services between Baltimore and Washington are operating normally Thursday after a water main break in Halethorpe Wednesday caused services to be suspended.

MARC services were “up and running” Wednesday night and no major delays were reported Thursday, according to Jawauna Greene, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration,
 
Amtrak services between Baltimore and Washington are also operating normally, although delays of up to a half-hour could continue through Thursday afternoon, according to the Amtrak Web site.

Kurt Kocher, a spokesman for Baltimore Public Works, said crews continue to work in the area to fix the pipe, but “everybody should have water” and work should be completed Thursday.

On Wednesday, the break along Washington Boulevard forced six area schools to close, halted MARC and Amtrak train services up and down the Penn Line and affected the water supply in Baltimore and Howard counties.

Baltimore Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher said the 36-inch main that broke shortly before dawn on Wednesday is “one of the main feeds of water into Howard County.”

He said preliminary evaluations of what occurred suggest the pipe was a pre-stressed concrete pipe installed in the 1970s. Such pipes have caused widespread problems across the country in recent years due to a “manufacturing defect,” he said.

He called the break “less an aging issue than a manufacturing defect that’s affected this whole country.”

This story has been updated.

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