Amtrak to Woodbridge

Submitted by Cheap-Ad7916 t3_10ndosk in rva

I work in northern Virginia twice a week and am thinking of taking Amtrak a few times a month because it’s cheap now, and I’m hoping to put less miles on my car. How often is the train late? My husband and daughter are coming up today, and the train was delayed 20 minutes. Is that typical, or do the weekday trains generally leave on time?

Also, For anyone else who does the nova commute on Amtrak, how do you generally get from the Amtrak station (in this case Woodbridge) to work (merrifield area)? I’m looking into slugging/van/ride share because public transport would take longer than the train, but not sure how feasible/reliable this is. Thank you!

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FrankieMunizOfficial t1_j68dflj wrote

Amtrak's on time percentage outside of the northeast corridor is about 65%, and my experience has been in line with that

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sanfollowill t1_j689f1l wrote

The last train I took up there was on time but then got stuck behind another train for an hour. That being said, I feel like traffic can cause similar delays and looking at my phone is far superior to driving.

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Cheap-Ad7916 OP t1_j68a7cp wrote

Very true. Right now I spend about an hour and a 45 minutes door to door in the morning, and up to three hours getting back on Friday nights. But if I could actually do something with that time, I wouldn’t mind taking a little longer in the morning.

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gowhatyourself t1_j6cyjn1 wrote

> looking at my phone is far superior to driving.

Why not be like your average Richmond driver and have the best of both worlds?

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AccidentallyTaschen t1_j68a462 wrote

It’s definitely a crapshoot but I’m my experience more reliable on the weekdays. There are patches of bad phone service, but at least when the train is stopped you can work on your laptop or read or do something on your phone instead of being in traffic. Ultimately it’s probably more reliable then rolling the dice with the traffic from driving.

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glboisvert t1_j68jomu wrote

If the train starts in Richmond it's likely to be on time. If it's coming from further south, there's a greater chance that it's late. I've found Amtrak to be reasonably reliable between RVA and DC, but it definitely isn't as good as it is north of DC.

If you want to do the train, it would be better to take it to Alexandria instead of Woodbridge. Not all trains stop at Woodbridge, but they all stop at Alexandria. Also, the Alexandria station is right next to a Metro station, so if the slugging option doesn't work out you do have the Metro as a backup. I would imagine public transit from Woodbridge is quite a bit worse.

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TheBoyLindsay t1_j68kmmp wrote

I've done RVA to DC on Amtrak three times this month and all have been on-time, FWIW. Not saying that's always the case, but good to know they do get it right a lot of times :)

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Cheap-Ad7916 OP t1_j68kqfk wrote

Good to know. I can arrive at work as late as 10, so as long as I’m not later than that!

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argntn t1_j68te2s wrote

I took it once and it was 20 minutes delayed to depart but it only ended up arriving ~5-10 late. Not too bad

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Clean-Independent129 t1_j69d0rr wrote

You can take the train to Alexandria and catch the Metro to Vienna, maybe? Maybe ask the NOVA Reddit for other slug/van advice

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Diet_Coke t1_j6axx6r wrote

During the summer I took an Amtrak to/from DC that was delayed 1.5/3 hours, because they were driving at lower speeds to reduce the chance of starting a fire. So you may want to drive in the summer if you can.

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katjardin t1_j6d4v6w wrote

In the early 2000’s I had a job in Woodbridge and commuted daily - 85 miles each way - brutal. Books on CD were my salvation. Train wasn’t really a viable option then; curious if it’d be better now. That year I put 40K miles on my car.

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Cheap-Ad7916 OP t1_j6d6l2w wrote

Luckily right now I only go up Thursday morning, stay with family, and come back Fridays. But have still managed to put 17k on my car in 10 months! I listen to a lot of podcasts and audio books and don’t mind the drive too much. I can usually get to merrifield in 1 hour 45, though Friday evening drive back can take two to three hours. Hoping to maybe train it once or twice a month to save some mileage!

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katjardin t1_j6d9v7j wrote

On a good, no-traffic, no-cops day, I could get there in 65 minutes. I don’t want to talk about the bad days.

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