Odenton is a passenger rail station on the

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 ...

Penn Line The Penn Line is a MARC commuter rail service running from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to Perryville, Maryland, along the far southern leg of the Northeast Corridor. However, the great majority of trains terminate at Baltimore's Penn ...

. It is located along the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...

;

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

trains operating along the corridor pass through but do not stop. Both platforms at the station are high-level and are among the longest in the MARC system.

History

The Odenton station was originally built in 1872 by the

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., from 1872 to 1902. Controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Nort ...

which was later merged into the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

on November 1, 1902. The station survived the merger between the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

and the PRR that formed

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

. When

was formed in 1971, it initially retained very limited intercity service to the station - eventually dwindling to 2 trains each way, each day, Monday - Friday. Although the station building closed to the public at that time, it continued to be used as a maintenance-of-way storage facility. Commuter passenger service has operated continuously from this station since prior to 1900. Since around 1989, the station has been served by

, a division of the Maryland Transportation Administration (MTA) who continues to provide commuter service to the area. MARC service has expanded and, currently, sees over 50 trains stopping there each day, Monday through Friday and new but growing service on week-ends and some holidays.

Station layout

The station has two

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 platfo ...

s serving the outer tracks of the Northeast Corridor, with a tunnel connecting the two platforms.

Connecting services

The

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

(NSA) maintains a shuttle service from Odenton station to its Visitor Control Center at its headquarters at

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

; it has done so since 2005. In 2009 the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

established a similar shuttle service from Odenton station to the Army section of Fort Meade; the NSA operates this service, allowing garrison employees, persons with Fort Meade visitor passes, and

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

IDs to board.

References

External links

Station from Google Maps Street ViewOdenton station history
{{Amtrak Maryland stations Stations on the Northeast Corridor MARC Train stations Penn Line 1872 establishments in Maryland Railway stations in the United States opened in 1872 Railway stations closed in 1971 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1989 Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations Odenton, Maryland Former Amtrak stations in Maryland