Brunswick Line

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Brunswick Line
MARC Train Brunswick Line Kensington.jpg
A northbound MARC train on the Brunswick Line, after having departed Kensington Station.
Overview
Owner CSX Transportation (tracks, except Frederick Branch [1] )
Locale Washington D.C. and northern Maryland suburbs; West Virginia
Termini
Stations19
Service
Type Commuter rail
System MARC Train
Train number(s)870–895
Operator(s) Alstom/Maryland Transit Administration
Rolling stock Siemens Charger, MPI MPXpress MP36PH-3C, Bombardier Multilevel
Daily ridership7,497 (June 2017) [2]
History
Opened1873
Technical
Line length74 mi (119 km)
Number of tracks2-5
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed34 mph (55 km/h) (avg.)
Route map
Brunswick Line Brunswick Line highlighted in yellow
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Martinsburg
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Duffields
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Harpers Ferry
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Brunswick
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Point of Rocks Tunnel
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Point of Rocks
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Frederick
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Monocacy
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Dickerson
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Barnesville
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Boyds
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Germantown
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Metropolitan Grove
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Gaithersburg
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Washington Grove
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Rockville
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Garrett Park
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Kensington
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Silver Spring
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Union Station
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A MARC train stopped at Gaithersburg station in Montgomery County MD along the Brunswick Line. MARCtrainGaithersburgmd.jpg
A MARC train stopped at Gaithersburg station in Montgomery County MD along the Brunswick Line.

The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. 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 and runs on CSX-owned track, including the Metropolitan, Old Main Line, and Cumberland subdivisions. It is the successor to commuter services provided by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), which date to the mid-19th century.

Contents

History

The B&O had long operated commuter trains between Washington and Martinsburg, and continued to do so after the start of Amtrak 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. [3]

In 1983, as part of a federal requirement for Conrail (which operated the Penn Line service) to end its operation of commuter railroads on behalf of states, the state government of Maryland took control of its commuter railroads, organizing them under the "MARC" (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) service name. [4] Trains on the Brunswick Line were operated under contract by CSX Transportation, 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. [3]

In May 2010, MARC announced that it planned to find a new operator for the Brunswick and Camden Lines after CSX announced its desire to discontinue operation of commuter trains. [5] MARC selected Bombardier Transportation Services USA Corporation (BTS) (a subsidiary of the Canadian company Bombardier Transportation) to replace CSX, and BTS assumed operations and maintenance of the lines on June 29, 2013. CSX continues to dispatch the lines. [6]

Rolling stock

Brunswick Line trains typically have four to six single- or bilevel passenger cars and one or two diesel locomotives. The trains operate in a push-pull configuration, with the cab car typically facing Washington.

Before they were replaced by new Bombardier Multilevel II cars, MARC's ex-Metra 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, [7] with nine trains in each direction during morning and evening rush hour, and an additional train outbound from Union Station on Fridays. Three of the nine trains in each direction serve the Frederick branch. Of the remainder, three inbound and three 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. [7]

Union Station is the southern terminus of Amtrak's Floridian which shares much of the Brunswick Line's route; Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry, and Rockville are also served by the Floridian. Connections to the Washington Metro's Red Line are available at Rockville, Silver Spring, and Union Station.

Stations

The Brunswick Line serves the following stations. Not all trains stop at all stations.

StateTown/CityStationConnections
DC Washington, D.C. Union Station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak: Acela, Cardinal, Floridian, Carolinian, Crescent, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Silver Meteor, Vermonter , Amtrak Thruway to Charlottesville, Virginia
WMATA Metro Logo small.svg Metrorail: Red Line
Bus-logo.svg Metrobus: Loudoun, OmniRide
Virginia Railway Express.svg VRE: Manassas Line, Fredericksburg Line
MARC train.svg MARC: Camden Line, Penn Line
Bus-logo.svg MTA Commuter Bus: 903, 922
MD Silver Spring Silver Spring WMATA Metro Logo small.svg Metrorail: Red Line
Bus-logo.svg Metrobus: 70, 79, F4, J1, J2, Q2, Q4, S2, S9, Y2, Y7, Y8, Z2, Z6, Z7, Z8,
Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 1, 2A, 2B, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, FLASH Blue Line, FLASH Orange Line
Bus-logo.svg MTA Commuter Bus: 915, 929
Kensington Kensington Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 4, 5, 33, 34, 37
Garrett Park Garrett Park Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 5, 37, 38
Rockville Rockville BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak: Floridian
WMATA Metro Logo small.svg Metrorail: Red Line
Bus-logo.svg Metrobus: T2, Q2, Q4, Q6,
Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 56, 59, 63, 81, 101
Washington Grove Washington Grove Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 61
Gaithersburg Gaithersburg Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 57
Metropolitan Grove Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 61
Germantown Germantown Bus-logo.svg Ride On: 61, 75, 83, [8] 97
Boyds Boyds [9]
Barnesville Barnesville
Dickerson Dickerson [9]
Frederick Monocacy Bus-logo.svg TransIT: 10, 20
Bus-logo.svg MTA Commuter Bus: 204, 505, 515
Bus-logo.svg Meet-the-MARC shuttle
Frederick Bus-logo.svg TransIT: 20, 40, 50, 60
Bus-logo.svg MTA Commuter Bus: 515
Bus-logo.svg Meet-the-MARC shuttle
Brunswick Line:
Point of Rocks Point of Rocks Bus-logo.svg Meet-the-MARC shuttle
Brunswick Brunswick
WV Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak: Floridian
Duffields Duffields
Martinsburg Martinsburg BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak: Floridian

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Brunswick is a passenger rail station on the MARC Brunswick Line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia. The station house, located at 100 South Maple Street in Brunswick, Maryland, is a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot that is a contributing property to the Brunswick Historic District, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since August 29, 1979. The station was designed by Ephraim Francis Baldwin and opened in 1891 on Seventh Avenue. Several years later the building was moved to its current location. It is a wooden frame building with stone walls up to the window sills, and features Palladian windows in the roof dormers.

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The Blue Ridge was a daily Amtrak passenger train that operated between Washington, D.C., and Cumberland, Maryland. Service began in 1973; it was merged into the MARC Brunswick Line commuter rail service in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 Maryland train collision</span> Fatal train crash in the United States

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References

  1. Transit Administration, Maryland. "2019 MARC Cornerstone Plan" (PDF). AWS. MDOT. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  2. "MTA Average Weekday Ridership – by Month". Maryland Open Data Portal. June 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  3. 1 2 West Virginia Department of Transportation, State Rail Authority (March 12, 2013). "West Virginia State Rail Plan: Maryland Area Regional Commuter Service". Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  4. MARC History on MTA website Archived April 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "MARC to seek new operator for CSX-run routes". Trains Magazine. June 14, 2010. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  6. Weir, Kytja (October 17, 2012). "Bombardier wins $204m MARC commuter train contract". The Washington Examiner . Retrieved October 28, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Brunswick Line Schedule" (PDF). MTA Maryland. March 4, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  8. "New Shuttle Service Between Kingsview Park & Ride Lot and Germantown MARC Station Now Available". Montgomery County, MD. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Closure of station due to low ridership was proposed in an early-2006 MARC plan that was ultimately canceled.
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