If https://wapo.st/3GnBQ0w (gift link) is carried out, it will be possible to travel from Montauk or Poughkeepsie, NY, or Waterbury, CT, all the way to Washington, DC and beyond to Spotsylvania, VA, entirely by commuter rail. (LIRR or MetroNorth to NYC, NJ Transit to Trenton, SEPTA to Philadelphia and thence to Wilmington, MARC to Washington, and then VRE into Virginia.
@SteveBellovin Let’s not leave our friends on the west side of NYC out. This is also allows for travel to/from Orange and Rockland counties in New York as well via Secaucus Junction, NJ.
This is how I usually go to the ancestral home, although I usually use AMTRAK for the bulk of the DC to NJ run.