Commuter rail report recommends integrating VRE, MARC under one brand

Crew changes at Union station may not be seamless/ Having to initiate PTC abefore you can leave is going to make station dwell longer in time/

west point wrote: ↑Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:59 pm Crew changes at Union station may not be seamless/ Having to initiate PTC abefore you can leave is going to make station dwell longer in time/

Ew, yeah, PTC. You're going from CSX trackage to Amtrak trackage. Do you have to shut down one system and start another? How long is that procedure?

This proposal isn´t dead yet.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... o-virginia

A bill that would open the door for MARC commuter rail service to expand into northern Virginia has new life after Maryland’s House of Delegates voted to override a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan, leaving its future in the hands of the state Senate. The Frederick News Post reports that Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery, Md.), the sponsor of the bill, believes the Senate will also override the veto after the House’s 98-30 vote to override. The Senate vote could come as early as Friday.

Source article is from the Frederick NewsPost:

The sponsor of a bill that could expand MARC train service into northern Virginia is confident that the Maryland Senate will uphold the House of Delegates’ vote to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto earlier this week.

Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery) said the House’s 98-30 vote Monday to override Hogan’s veto of the bill last year will also pass the Senate when it votes, likely on Friday.

The bill would require the Maryland Transit Administration to negotiate on agreements to extend the system’s service onto the Virginia Railway Express system, as well as from Perryville, Maryland to Newark, Delaware.

The MTA has been discussing the possibility of expanding into Virginia for several years.

The service into Virginia through Washington, D.C.’s Union Station would probably initially start on MARC’s Brunswick line, which runs from West Virginia into Montgomery County and Washington, with stations in Brunswick and Point of Rocks, Solomon said.

... okay, I need to talk to that delegate, because (insert why Brunswick line trains hold up traffic to get to the First Street Tunnel).

How in the heck can MARC go to Virginia until Long Bridge crossing is expanded to 4 tracks? Capacity is listed as at 98% of theory during rush hours on the CSX line. As well how can Brunswick trains even make the transition just north of US until 1st street tunnel is expanded to to connect under the present tracks 5 - 12(?) ?

west point wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:07 am How in the heck can MARC go to Virginia until Long Bridge crossing is expanded to 4 tracks? Capacity is listed as at 98% of theory during rush hours on the CSX line. As well how can Brunswick trains even make the transition just north of US until 1st street tunnel is expanded to to connect under the present tracks 5 - 12(?) ?

With PSR, is long bridge still at capacity? I'd assume it means fewer CSX trains running over it. Also, does the coal for morgantown come from south, or on brunswick line? Either way, that will dry up in a few years.

It looks like there is currently a single track from the south/east bound track on brunswick line, which seems to also have a siding for VRE consists to rest off of it.
Putting in a connection directly to the northbound track, crossing over the southbound is a must.
(The camden line needs similar, it looks like over a mile of single track running, to union station from the junction)
If runthroughs were done, some of the tracks currently used for staging would no longer be needed.
A bigger issue is that they need integration into a regional rail system, instead of rush hour commute system, as that pattern of use likely isn't coming back.
1st street tunnel is what, 6tph now?
I imagine even 2 runthroughs per hour would get used.
of course, ultimately, DMU/EMU which could use either high or low platforms, with a single crew member would provide best coverage, for that level service.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Thu Feb 11, 2021 2:50 pm Source article is from the Frederick NewsPost:

The sponsor of a bill that could expand MARC train service into northern Virginia is confident that the Maryland Senate will uphold the House of Delegates’ vote to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto earlier this week.

Del. Jared Solomon (D-Montgomery) said the House’s 98-30 vote Monday to override Hogan’s veto of the bill last year will also pass the Senate when it votes, likely on Friday.

The bill would require the Maryland Transit Administration to negotiate on agreements to extend the system’s service onto the Virginia Railway Express system, as well as from Perryville, Maryland to Newark, Delaware.

The MTA has been discussing the possibility of expanding into Virginia for several years.

The service into Virginia through Washington, D.C.’s Union Station would probably initially start on MARC’s Brunswick line, which runs from West Virginia into Montgomery County and Washington, with stations in Brunswick and Point of Rocks, Solomon said.

... okay, I need to talk to that delegate, because (insert why Brunswick line trains hold up traffic to get to the First Street Tunnel).

Is that delegate who also wanted to investigate WMATA service to Frederick?

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:10 pm With PSR, is long bridge still at capacity? I'd assume it means fewer CSX trains running over it. Also, does the coal for morgantown come from south, or on brunswick line? Either way, that will dry up in a few years.

It looks like there is currently a single track from the south/east bound track on brunswick line, which seems to also have a siding for VRE consists to rest off of it.
Putting in a connection directly to the northbound track, crossing over the southbound is a must.
(The camden line needs similar, it looks like over a mile of single track running, to union station from the junction)
If runthroughs were done, some of the tracks currently used for staging would no longer be needed.
A bigger issue is that they need integration into a regional rail system, instead of rush hour commute system, as that pattern of use likely isn't coming back.
1st street tunnel is what, 6tph now?
I imagine even 2 runthroughs per hour would get used.
of course, ultimately, DMU/EMU which could use either high or low platforms, with a single crew member would provide best coverage, for that level service.

Here's the thing. Currently, there's only one track coming from QN interlock into K interlock. It lands on the most west-side of K. The First Street Tunnel is on the east side of K. To go all the way from west to east, you have to stop all Amtrak and MARC traffic on the Camden, Penn, and NEC to allow one through train to cross!

And that's a deal breaker right there, because the NEC is too damn busy.

So you gotta put in fly-overs (expensive) or you restrict the trains to the Camden Line (if you get CSX to go along) or the Pen Line... ooops, you now have the high-block problem. The only way to solve that is not to use VRE equipment down in Virginia -- use MARC equipment, which can do both.