ArctifoxCurrently the Green Line of the Washington, DC #Metro is closed between Fort Totten and Greenbelt. This week I had to travel to Greenbelt on a few days, and besides the replacement bus service #WMATA is running to serve the closed Green Line stations, another and less obvious alternative is the #MARC Camden Line, a commuter rail line between Washington, DC's #UnionStation and Baltimore.
There are two lines between the DC and Baltimore: The Penn Line which uses the same tracks as #Amtrak and stops at Baltimore's Penn Station (and continues beyond Baltimore). This line is more like a regional train service. The second line is the Camden Line, which terminates near the Baltimore Waterfront and is more like a typical US commuter rail service (meaning: serves mainly rush hour traffic towards DC and little to no services besides that, and no weekend service).
The trip starts at the #MARC #Greenbelt station which is located right next to the #WMATA Metro station and has two platforms (one for trains to Baltimore, one for train to DC) and two tracks for trains passing through. The station has a bench, a shelter, and a screen with live information.
The train arrived 2 minutes late and, as usual for many trains in the US outside the North East Corridor, you can hear it long before you can see it approach the station.
I don't know how common this actually is, but I was surprised to see the approaching train consisting of #MARC's newest double decker cars, the Bombardier MultiLevel Coaches. On my few previous trips on this line before, I only traveled on the older single level cars. The interior looks nice and clean, the seats are comfortable. The only odd thing was that the door between the car and the pushing locomotive was open, but I guess that is not the usual situation.
On the way to DC, the train stopped at College Park (another station of #WMATA's Green Line which is closed), and Riverdale. After approximately 20 minutes, the train arrived at Washington, DC's #UnionStation 8 minutes before schedule - there is quite a lot of buffer in the schedule. The station is like many major US train stations: While there are often beautiful, impressive, and historic station halls, the platforms are ... well, let's say less impressive.
Overall I was surprised about how pleasant and convenient the trip was. Unfortunately, the frequency and price does not make it a very feasible option for general commuting between DC and #Greenbelt. It's also a pity that this train service is not considered an official alternative for passengers of #WMATA's Green Line during the line closures like Virginia's #VRE was during the Yellow and Blue Line shutdowns in 2022.