Crystal City station is a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

station in the Crystal City section of

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, located near the

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Service ( ...

and

Ronald Reagan National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

. It is served by the Fredericksburg Line and Manassas Line of the Virginia Railway Express system. VRE plans to rebuild the station nearby to accommodate longer trains and increased service.

Planned rebuild

Crystal City station facing south, January 2017

The station has a single

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...

located on the west side of the three tracks of the

RF&P Subdivision The RF&P Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation. It runs from Washington, D.C., to Richmond, Virginia, over lines previously owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. ...

. Crystal City station, used by 18% of VRE riders in 2017, represents an "operational bottleneck" for VRE: the single -long platform is shorter than trains and forces all trains to use one track. VRE plans to expand the station into a full-length center platform serving two tracks, with grade-separated access to the platform. An alternatives analysis released in November 2017 analyzed three possible sites. All three sites would allow for a future pedestrian bridge or tunnel to

to give direct airport access from the station and Crystal City. The preferred location was slightly south of the current station, with the platform stretching from 18th Street to south of 20th Street. Preliminary engineering for the station began in late 2019. , final design was expected to last from January 2021 to August 2022, with construction from November 2022 to October 2024. In May 2022, Amtrak and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority reached an agreement to add a separate Amtrak platform at the station.

References

External links

VRE - Crystal CityCrystal City Station Improvements
Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia Crystal City Railway stations in the United States opened in 1992 1992 establishments in Virginia Buildings and structures in Arlington, Virginia Transportation in Arlington County, Virginia {{Virginia-railstation-stub