Brunswick Line

Brunswick Line
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	Washington Union Station Martinsburg, WV
Stations	19
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 ridership	7,497 (June 2017) [2]
History
Opened	1873
Technical
Line length	74 mi (119 km)
Number of tracks	2-5
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	34 mph (55 km/h) (avg.)
Route map Brunswick Line highlighted in yellow Show interactive map Legend Floridian to Chicago Martinsburg Duffields Harpers Ferry West Virginia Maryland Potomac River South Mountain Tunnel Brunswick Catoctin Tunnel Point of Rocks Tunnel Point of Rocks Frederick Monocacy Monocacy River Dickerson Barnesville Boyds Germantown Metropolitan Grove Gaithersburg Washington Grove Rockville Garrett Park Rock Creek Kensington Silver Spring California Washington, D.C. Penn Line to Perryville Camden Line to Camden Station Union Station Virginia Railway Express Amtrak This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram

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.

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

See also: MARC Train § 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.

State	Town/City	Station	Connections
DC	Washington	Union Station	Amtrak: Acela , Cardinal , Floridian , Carolinian , Crescent , Northeast Regional , Palmetto , Silver Meteor , Vermonter , Thruway Bus to Charlottesville, Virginia Metrorail: Red Line VRE: ■  Manassas Line, ■  Fredericksburg Line MARC: ■  Camden Line, ■  Penn Line Metrobus, Loudoun County Transit, OmniRide, MTA Commuter Bus
MD	Silver Spring	Silver Spring	Metrorail: Red Line Flash BRT: Blue Line, Orange Line Metrobus, Ride On, MTA Commuter Bus
	Kensington	Kensington	Ride On
	Garrett Park	Garrett Park	Ride On
	Rockville	Rockville	Amtrak: Floridian Metrorail: Red Line Metrobus, Ride On
	Washington Grove	Washington Grove	Ride On
	Gaithersburg	Gaithersburg	Ride On
		Metropolitan Grove	Ride On
	Germantown	Germantown	Ride On
	Boyds	Boyds [8]
	Barnesville	Barnesville
	Dickerson	Dickerson [8]
	Frederick Branch:
	Frederick	Monocacy	TransIT, MTA Commuter Bus
		Frederick	TransIT, MTA Commuter Bus
	Brunswick Line:
	Point of Rocks	Point of Rocks	TransIT
	Brunswick	Brunswick
WV	Harpers Ferry	Harpers Ferry	Amtrak: Floridian
	Duffields	Duffields
	Martinsburg	Martinsburg	Amtrak: Floridian

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. 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. "Brunswick Line Schedule" (PDF). MTA Maryland. March 4, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
8. Closure of station due to low ridership was proposed in an early-2006 MARC plan that was ultimately canceled.

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