VRE Route to Union Station

Yes, actually, and I've heard they're somewhat worried about it, but there simply is no way to fix it.

i recently on my own time wrote a half-novel about a teenager stuck in a train hijacking and bombing under the capitol (much more complicated). i never finished, but i like it.

I think the tunnel is deep and solid enough that no likely conventional bomb would damage much of anything except the tunnel and train itself. To really do in the Capitol, it would have to be a nuke, and if a terrorist has one of those, there are lots more things to be worried about than a railway tunnel.

krtaylor wrote:I think the tunnel is deep and solid enough that no likely conventional bomb would damage much of anything except the tunnel and train itself. To really do in the Capitol, it would have to be a nuke, and if a terrorist has one of those, there are lots more things to be worried about than a railway tunnel.

As far as rail issues are concerned, DC is far more worried about hazmat shipments on CSX's freight route thru DC, which is above ground and not far from many federal buildings.

I suppose diesel fuel in locomotive fuel tanks is the most hazardous thing that passes through the passenger tunnels.

krtaylor wrote:I think the tunnel is deep and solid enough that no likely conventional bomb would damage much of anything except the tunnel and train itself. To really do in the Capitol, it would have to be a nuke, and if a terrorist has one of those, there are lots more things to be worried about than a railway tunnel.

Apparently, it's just below the surface. On the Citizens against govt. waste (who I'm pretty sure are quoting a WashPost article from about 2-3 years ago, I'm just too lazy to Lexis-Nexis it):

"For example, when utility lines were rerouted early in construction, engineers expected a train tunnel to be 18 feet underground; upon digging, the tunnel was located two feet beneath the surface. The tunnel to the Library of Congress tunnel is expected to be a 600-foot long L-shaped arc in order to avoid obstacles that are actually known by engineers. In the end, this tunnel will probably take longer to navigate than the time it takes to cross First Street and walk from the Capitol to the Library of Congress—the path that legislators have taken for well over a hundred years now."

http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8684
(about 60% fo the way down, just look for train in the article)

This actually makes a great deal of sense; you're looking at a lot of layers of sand/clay (this area of DC is in the coastal plain), probably reasonably wet, at least at the north side (Union Station sits at what used to be Tiber Creek, just before it turned onto modern Constitution Ave. and became a Potomac estuary) and the tunnel probably was constructed in the early 1900s as part of the Union Station project. A deep tunnel would have been hard to construct, and involve a lot more grade differential than is warranted from the south side of Capitol Hill to the north (the lower level is only ~2 stories below the upper, iirc)

Hmm. If it's two feet under, then almost that's better (again, barring a nuke). You'd have something kind of like the old gunpowder storage buildings, which had hugely strong walls but a very weak roof. That way, if there was ever an explosion, it would all be funneled straight up in the air where it would be much less likely to hurt anybody.

Of course, anything directly on top of the tunnel would be in very bad shape, but the tunnel doesn't actually run straight underneath the Capitol building itself, does it? Just under Capitol Hill. It would make a terrible mess of the parking lot to blow it up, maybe bag a few senators on their way to their cars, but not decapitate the entire government.

Anyway, it's possible, but not devastating, and there are loads more dangerous things to worry about.

I wouldn't worry about nukes on the trains under the capitol, the hot air radiating from Nancy Pelosi's mouth would do more damage than one of those damned things.

On September 11, 2001, the tunnel was shut down until somebody (Secret Service? Capitol Police?) inspected it for bombs.

benltrain wrote: I am pretty sure MARC doesn't use the lower level, because there are low platforms on the upper level

rafi already alluded to this, but MARC Penn Line train 426 (departing at 15:34) almost always uses track 27 or 28 (I've seen it on the upper level once, and I'm taking it about 2-3 times a week).

"krtaylor"
. . . the tunnel doesn't actually run straight underneath the Capitol building itself, does it? Just under Capitol Hill.

The Tunnels turn south under Columbus Circle in front of Union Station then under 1st Street NE and SE. About half way between Independence Avenue and C Street SE the tunnel begins it's curve to the west to connect to the main line at Virginia Tower. The tunnel runs under the southeast corner of The Cannon House Office Building.

Google Maps Aerial Photograph of Capitol Hill.

Google Maps Aerial Photograph of the curve in the tunnel behind the House Annex on the SE corner of New Jersey Avenue and C Street SE.

I have never traveled through the tunnel so I don't know what the grade profile is.