The Brunswick Line is a
MARC Marc or MARC may refer to:
People
* Marc (given name), people with the first name
* Marc (surname), people with the family name
Acronyms
* MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging,
* MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...
commuter rail line between
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the E ...
, with a branch to
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...
. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest at 74 miles, is operated under contract to MARC by
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
and runs on
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
-owned track, including the
Metropolitan,
Old Main Line, and
Cumberland Subdivisions. It is the successor to commuter services provided by the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
(B&O), which date to the mid-19th century.
History
Prior to MARC, the B&O operated commuter trains between Washington and Martinsburg, which continued even after the start of
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
on May 1, 1971. Maryland began subsidizing the trains in 1974 and, in 1975, assumed full responsibility for the subsidy and equipment replacement. West Virginia followed suit soon after, guaranteeing service to its stations.
In 1983,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
along with a number of other Northeastern statestook control of its commuter railroads, organizing them under the "MARC" (Maryland Area Regional Commuter) service name. Trains on the Brunswick Line were operated under contract by
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
, successor to the B&O. Brunswick Line service was augmented in 1986 when Amtrak transferred its Washington–Martinsburg ''
Blue Ridge'' to MARC after agreeing to subsidize the train for five years.
In May 2010, MARC announced that it planned to find a new operator for the Brunswick and
Camden Line
The Camden Line is a MARC commuter rail line that runs for between Union Station, Washington, D.C., and Camden Station, Baltimore, Maryland, over the CSX Capital Subdivision, and Baltimore Terminal Subdivision. It is one of the oldest commuter ...
s after CSX announced its desire to discontinue operation of commuter trains.
MARC selected Bombardier Transportation Services USA Corporation (BTS) (a subsidiary of the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
company
Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
) to replace CSX, and BTS assumed operations and maintenance of the lines on June 29, 2013. CSX continues to dispatch the lines.
Rolling stock
Brunswick Line trains typically have 4–6 single or
bilevel passenger cars and one or two
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
s. The trains operate in a
push-pull configuration, with the cab car typically facing Washington.
Prior to being replaced by new
Bombardier Multilevel II cars, MARC's ex-
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. I ...
Pullman Gallery cars were used exclusively on the Brunswick Line, which is the only MARC line with all
low-level platforms (except the
Frederick Branch, which has a high level platform at
Monocacy station).
Service
The Brunswick Line has service only on weekdays,
with 9 trains in each direction during morning and evening rush hour, and an additional train outbound from Union Station on Fridays. Three of the 9 trains in each direction serve the Frederick branch. Of the remainder, 3 inbound and 3 outbound serve Martinsburg, while the remainder originate or terminate at
Brunswick. A bus runs between Frederick and Point of Rocks, meeting trains that do not serve the Frederick Branch.
Union Station is the southern terminus of Amtrak's ''
Capitol Limited
The ''Capitol Limited'' is a daily Amtrak train between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, running via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Service began in 1981 and was named after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's ''Capitol Limited'' which ended in 1971 u ...
,'' which shares much of the Brunswick Line's route; , , and are also served by the ''Capitol Limited''. Connections to the
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,[Google Books search/preview ...](_blank)
's
Red Line are available at Rockville, , and Union Station.
Stations
The Brunswick Line serves the following stations. Not all trains stop at all stations.
References
{{Transit In DC
Martinsburg, West Virginia
MARC Train
Maryland railroads
Passenger rail transportation in Maryland
Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C.
Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia
Washington, D.C., railroads
West Virginia railroads