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  • Halethorpe parking & late night Penn Line questions

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #272329  by CHIP72
 
Due in large part to their lack of weekend service, I've never ridden a MARC train. I'd like to change that in the relatively near future. I'm thinking about using the MARC train from one of the stations south of Baltimore, probably Halethorpe, to take a day trip to DC and to go see a Washington Nationals game in the evening. That being the case, I have a couple questions:

1) How easy is it to get a parking spot at Halethorpe in the late morning (say 10:30 AM)? I just made a trip down to Washington this past Friday evening, and on the way down I scoped out the Halethorpe MARC station. (The station itself was disappointing, but I digress). It appeared there probably is plenty of parking available, but I drove by there probably around 5:45 PM when parking would be available. I also saw a lot of cars parked along US 1 next to the station, so that made me wonder about the parking situation. FWIW, the trip I have in mind would take place on a Friday.

2) Has anyone tried going to Washington Nationals games from the Baltimore area using MARC (and DC Metro)? Looking at the Penn Line schedule, the last train leaves Washington Union Station at 10:45 PM and gets to New Carrollton at 10:56 PM. The latest Metro Orange Line train I could take to New Carrollton leaves Stadium/Armory at 10:31 PM and gets to New Carrollton at 10:45 PM. Would that 11 minute layover give me enough time at New Carrollton? Based upon my knowledge of the New Carrollton Metro/MARC/Amtrak station, I'm guessing it would but I'm not sure. (I'm also not sure if the Metro often or periodically has delays on the Orange Line on Friday nights.) Realistically, if I started leaving RFK Stadium at 10:10 PM or earlier, I don't think I'd have a problem getting out to the Metro stop in time for that 10:31 PM eastbound Orange Line train.

Any information about either or both questions would be appreciated.
Last edited by CHIP72 on Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

 #272374  by Hudson Terminus
 
"How easy is it to get a parking spot at Halethorpe in the late morning (say 10:30 AM)"

Not very easy at all. The parking lot is pretty big, but it will fill up as the morning goes on. I've been to Halethorpe to take pictures at 7:30am, and had trouble finding a spot. It's pretty crazy there, so expect to do some walking. Odenton is the same way. You'd probably be able to get a spot in the BWI station garage, but that costs money....

I'm guessing that because you're planning on a Friday trip, there may be a few extra spots open.

2.) You'll probably be okay catching that 10:56pm train out of New Carrollton. The layover is more than enough. I'm not sure if WMATA is running extra-long outbound Orange Line trains (ballpark traffic volume) on game nights, but you should be fine. You can always leave the game early if you need to.

 #273333  by gprimr1
 
Just hope that it doesn't go into extra innings. :)

You do make a good point though, I wonder if Amtrak would allow a MARC train to be run from New Carlton to Baltimore 1 hour after the end of a Nationals game regardless of time.

This could put a hurting on the Baltimore Light Rail which runs up to 1 hour after the last inning of a game at the Yard.

Btw transfers between WMATA and Marc are very easy at New Carlton.

 #276161  by CHIP72
 
gprimr1 wrote:You do make a good point though, I wonder if Amtrak would allow a MARC train to be run from New Carrollton to Baltimore 1 hour after the end of a Nationals game regardless of time.

This could put a hurting on the Baltimore Light Rail which runs up to 1 hour after the last inning of a game at the Yard.
I don't think Nationals-oriented MARC service would hurt the Baltimore light rail (or the Baltimore Orioles) too much because:

1) The Orioles and Nationals rarely both play at home on the same night. In fact, on only one date during the 2006 MLB season (June 8th) did the O's and Nats have home games on the same day (and same time).

2) The Baltimore light rail is really oriented towards Baltimore, not going further south than BWI Airport or Glen Burnie (a south suburb of Baltimore). The MARC would capture a different market, and some people wouldn't want to wait around after the game for a MARC train when they have a shorter wait for a Baltimore light rail train. Also, I don't think MTA-MD would care, considering they operate both services.

 #276708  by gprimr1
 
Wow, what was I smoking when I wrote that.

I ment to say "Comparabale to the Baltimore Light Rail which runs 1 hour after the final inning."

Where did I get 'hurting?"