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batmanofska t1_iwnlw8q wrote

Penn Line happens to have the highest speed (110 mph) of any commuter rail in the US. It's a great option, and hopefully will be extended to Alexandria once the new Long Bridge is built

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DfcukinLite t1_iwnwccq wrote

More excited for the Septa expansion via Newark. Will be able to ride all the way to NYC on commuter rail

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ghostronin t1_iwo623j wrote

I've been searching for details on this but didn't come up with a whole lot. Any details you could share? Looking to potentially relocate the fam to Baltimore, and a commuter rail trip to NYC would be a massive perk.

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DfcukinLite t1_iwp10ar wrote

I mean you can already take the northeast regional Amtrak there or several commuter buses.

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abcpdo t1_iwpoqgc wrote

not really. it would be like $30 with two transfers and take like 4 hours to get to nyc

EDIT: more like $45 and 4 transfers

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwps6h6 wrote

As opposed to 100-200 bucks at 3.5 hours? Seems decent.

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abcpdo t1_iwpvgqd wrote

amtrak isn't typically that expensive. as low as $20. typically ~$60. and 0 transfers.

also I believe you would have to transfer in Philly as well on the Septa. so 3 transfers?

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwpw68j wrote

To NYC? Even when I am booking months out for mid week midday departures I have never gotten anything below $50.

Like I just picked a random Friday in December and one way prices $104 for a 5am departure. $164 for anytime after that in the am. Only price lower than $100 gets you there after midnight.

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A_P_Dahset t1_iwqe8ij wrote

It's possible to get cheap fares but you have to play around in the reservations and keep looking constantly to snag last minute low prices, sometimes even within a day or two of travel---so only works if your plans are relatively flexible. In September I got Bmore to Bridgeport, CT for $37, NYC back to Bmore for $37. Last weekend Bmore to NYC on Acela for $83 and Bridgeport, CT back to Bmore for $56. I might have booked the ticket to Bridgeport in September a week or two out, but everything else was booked within 1 or 2 days.

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abcpdo t1_iwpwlp3 wrote

I typically look for weekends so that might be why.

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwpxezq wrote

Even leaving on the following Saturday, you wont find any tickets under $100 unless the are arriving late ($74 to get there at midnight).

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abcpdo t1_iwpyt2o wrote

The closer to departure date the higher the cost.

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwpz6g2 wrote

Right. This was a month out. So not super far in advance, but not last minute.

The point is, saying Amtrak costs $20-50 is pretty disingenuous to what most people end up paying. Dropping down to $30 from $100 is significant for a lot of people. especially if it doesn't add too much time.

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abcpdo t1_iwq027z wrote

I never said it was better or worse than Amtrak. You brought that up. I was replying the other person to say it isn’t the perk they think it might be. For $30 and 3 transfers with wait time in between you’re better off driving up than taking 4 commuter trains.

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwq1ade wrote

I don't know how the transfer time will be, but driving up does create a lot of issues as well. Tolls and parking and gas and traffic variance. Plus stress. And many people can work on a train. Or play video games. Oh, and some people care about the environmental impact of their travel.

I am not saying this is clearly better. But another cheap and green option is good imo.

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abcpdo t1_iwq0pd5 wrote

By the way it’s $18 from Newark DE to Trenton on Septa, and it takes 2 hours on that alone if you luck out and have 0 min transfer wait.

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YoYoMoMa t1_iwq0wt5 wrote

Yrah I was just going by whoever said it was going to be $30 and 4 hours.

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essmithsd t1_iwpwbbz wrote

lol what? find me a 20 dollar fare to NYC from Baltimore please

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abcpdo t1_iwpwglx wrote

amtrak sales. they had a $19 anywhere to anywhere on NEC last year

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gothaggis t1_iwryn1i wrote

yeah, i just took the amtrak a few months ago - booked a couple months in advance - $29 each way per person. hell, even acela was $59 each way. The key is booking far enough in advance.

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STrRedWolf t1_iwstvz2 wrote

As cheap as it would be, it would be massively slower than taking Amtrak, up to twice as much.

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DfcukinLite t1_iwu96v7 wrote

It would be about an hour slower. But $50* cheaper. And another option. Especially to get to Philly, Nyc and Boston

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STrRedWolf t1_iwudfta wrote

I traced a DC to Boston route, going MARC-SEPTA-NJ Transit-Metro North-Shore Line East-MBTA. The entire route along the NEC, all stops, using current schedules and doing some logical extensions... was nearly 16 hours, and no cafe. Oh, and transfers at Newark/Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, Penn Station/Grand Central (Yes, you gotta take two subway lines between the two), New Haven, and Providence.

Compare with the Amtrak Regional which was 8 hours with a cafe. Set aside the expensive Acela.

Cheap? Sure, I'll give you that. But you got multiple transfers, one requiring a "complicated" path because of how the two train stations are. Your timing's going to be tight, and you may be able to grab lunch somewhere, but you're be ready for dinner at Boston South Station and you've spent all day.

Lets throw in airlines, Dec 4 for example. Southwest, BWI to Boston Logan. 1.5 hours flight time, 2 hours buffer at BWI, 30 min to get whatever luggage (remember, 2 bags fly free). That's 4 hours... for $50 flat one way. Amtrak? $132, 8 hours, one way... but then you miss getting scanned, frisked, and repeated sniffed in the butt by a TSA K-9 unit. (I won't go into sarcastic details there)

The point here is there's an overall quality of service. Sure, you'll get there with end-to-end commuter rail. But if your timing sucks... it'll be a hell ride.

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DfcukinLite t1_iwudjh6 wrote

The point is it’s another option. A transit improvement that many people will use because it provides access.

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md9918 t1_iwodlpf wrote

I've clocked Amtrak (non-Acela) using GPS on my phone at 125 on that same stretch! I had no idea they were so fast! I didn't know this fact about MARC-- super interesting!

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batmanofska t1_iwph1pb wrote

Amtrak Regional goes up to 125, Acela up to 135 in Maryland. Acela is capable of 150, but the catenary system is an old design that prevents this. But Amtrak does have a project planned to upgrade the catenary, and the new Avelia trainsets can go 165! So we may see even higher speeds in the near future

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bwoods43 t1_iwob9nu wrote

I thought the MARC trains ran slower than that, but according to Wikipedia, they run even faster - 125 mph!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Line

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batmanofska t1_iwph5lm wrote

I've heard that, but I've never seen one of their trains actually hit that speed, mostly because the stops are too close to accelerate that high

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STrRedWolf t1_iwsu6p5 wrote

They run on the same line and the cars are rated for it. The engines, depending on what you get, are rated, but some go max 110.

Still, I can brag about recompiling my company's management system at 125 MPH.

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iftair t1_iwohgii wrote

I really hope it extends to Alexandria. I'd love to take a nice trip to VA without the long winded rides.

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batmanofska t1_iwphbpe wrote

Seriously! But the bigger benefit will be a stop at L'Enfant on the way, giving many federal workers a one seat ride to the office. This would also take some crowding off Metro since those workers would no longer need a trip from Union Station down

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iftair t1_iwpqdqv wrote

I'm a federal worker but I'm not in the DMV area. So it doesn't affect me personally. But I do understand congestion as I'm from NYC.

However, it'd be nice if VA had reliable public transportation.

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DfcukinLite t1_iwwlda2 wrote

You can take the NE Regional Amtrak all the way to old town or transfer to the VRE via Union station. You can also get there by metro via train (Amtrak/Marc) @ Union station

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DemocracySmellsLike t1_iwnm8bt wrote

Yes! MARC is amazing, it gives me my time back where I can unwind and kick it rather than sitting in traffic. We’re lucky for the frequency of the Penn line too- super useful for getting around.

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STrRedWolf t1_iwnsz4z wrote

MARC is worth it. At the time I was taking it (Odenton/Baltimore) it was $162/month, while parking was at least $200/month, plus the coffee at Odenton was worth going down there instead of up to BWI. The time I spent not driving was spent writing my first novel.

Now, the office is closed up, my job now officially 100% Work-From-Home. The coffee shop is gone, sold to another person who swapped the coffee out for crap.

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124275408 t1_iwof5c5 wrote

I read the description for the novel and I only have one question…

Did you ever draw furries on the light rail? Specifically dragons?

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STrRedWolf t1_iwpjsu2 wrote

Maybe about 10+ years ago (when I worked for MTA Maryland and took Light Rail in/out), but the tracks are a bit rough for it. There's been a few artists drawing on transit that I've noticed. MARC is a bit smoother for artwork.

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124275408 t1_iwsspac wrote

Totally. I’ll never forget. This gal was showing her furry artwork to a random guy on the train who was narrating each drawing. It got rather graphic. Nice folk. Didn’t expect dragon porn on my commute, tho.

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124275408 t1_iwsstj9 wrote

Not saying it was you! Your book about furries on a train just kinda popped that memory into my brain and gave me a “Well, shit” moment. Figured Smalltimore might mean it was the same person.

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STrRedWolf t1_iwstq2s wrote

Nah, I'm not her (wrong sex/gender to boot). But it did give me a laugh. She must of been a student up at MICA.

To quote a Bugs Bunny cartoon of old, "Quite a bit of us, isn't it?" :)

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[deleted] t1_iwneslo wrote

[deleted]

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cherrychampagnetoast OP t1_iwnr1yj wrote

Yesss!!! U bike to the station? Life changing seriously

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sacrificebundt t1_iwoee5x wrote

They have full sized racks on the train but if they get full they turn you away, though the conductors have been saying there’s looking at putting the dedicated bike car on the Penn line train. Folding bikes are always allowed on the train. There’s also bike parking at Penn.

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PhillyMila215 t1_iwo6vxv wrote

I take MARC every day. It does give you time back. It is less stressful. But on the bad days, it makes me angry. The excuses - late arriving equipment, waiting on an open track, it’s very hot we have to move slow, mechanical issues, on and on and on.

Good luck, enjoy a podcast or whatever makes you happy!

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shiznik t1_iwoivqf wrote

Totally. I loved MARC but there were rough patches where the service was legitimately terrible and I would wonder if it was the worst commuter rail service in the country. When its good its good, but when you sit in one place on the track for seemingly no reason for over an hour when you just worked 8 hours, its REALLY bad.

Overall it's great and I look back on it fondly, but as you said sometimes it can be very frustrating.

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FlimFlamMagoo728 t1_iwoszpi wrote

On days like that I remind myself that at least I can be sitting there reading a book or browsing reddit or whatever instead of stuck in bumper to bumper traffic

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gothaggis t1_iwrz9ft wrote

yeah, i no longer commute to dc..and i did love taking the marc...but multiple times had to get on a rail car thats AC wasn't working on a hot summer day...suuuuuucked. and yet...still better than driving on 95/295

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JHBaltimore t1_iwobe2l wrote

Wish the Camden line ran on weekends and just more often in general on weekdays.

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bipbipletucha t1_iwp2k4x wrote

Same. But given how important a freight corridor it is for CSX I doubt that will happen any time soon, even with the line being double track and not currently running at capacity.

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DemocracySmellsLike t1_iwsasew wrote

I didn’t know that about the heavy use of that freight corridor, but my MARC fever dream is that Maryland buys CSX right of way and turns the Camden Line into what the Penn line is right now: a high frequency, speedy arterial in the Bal/Was corridor with connections to other transit modes. Similar to what Virginia is doing with VRE

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NoOutlandishness5753 t1_iwofupm wrote

So glad you found a better way to commute! I feel for everyone that is stuck making that drive everyday. I did it for a few years and it was miserable! I think that commute was the reason I no longer like to drive.

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redhottx0x t1_iwoqex8 wrote

Is there a train that'd take me to Rockville?

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bipbipletucha t1_iwp2n6e wrote

Marc to Union Station, then Metro Red line to Rockville!

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rytis t1_iwoxg7q wrote

Well the MARC Brunswick line would, but that only operates towards DC in the morning, and out of DC during the evening.

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sacrificebundt t1_iwq2oov wrote

Yeah you’d have to go into dc then all the way out. There’s a MTA bus between shady grove metro and the BWI marc stop if you wanted to cut out the need to transfer through DC. But I’m not sure you’d save that much time

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STrRedWolf t1_iwsur6o wrote

Yeah, the 201 bus. It takes the ICC from Shady Grove to ether 295 or I-95 and then I-195 to the airport and MARC station.

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jnyerere89 t1_iwpxdpe wrote

I swear if I worked in DC the MARC would be a no-brainer. Unfortunately I work in Virginia. The worst part of it (Winchester, VA). That 2 hr drive is grueling.

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aresef t1_iwonooi wrote

I used to commute by MARC, for the better part of a year. I only had a problem once. It was the day after their maintenance contract with Amtrak lapsed and they were using their diesel locomotives. The thing shut down twice and I was three hours late for work. It sucked.

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bipbipletucha t1_iwp2c52 wrote

The Marc train is the best. Glad to hear you've been converted to the ways of the great American railroad!

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ListlessLlama t1_iwpy6gj wrote

If you ever need to drive into DC, take I-95 instead of 295, no matter what the GPS screams at you. Unless there is an accident blocking all lanes on 95, it’s faster. Just one car can block the passing lane on 295 and it happens every time.

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sxswnxnw t1_iwqwnht wrote

Right, I do not deal with 295 unless there is literally no other option.

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