Opened in 1907, the Beaux-Arts station was designed by Daniel Burnham and is the southern terminus of the Northeast Corridor, the busiest passenger rail line in the nation. Union Station is the second busiest Amtrak station after New York City, and is served by Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express (VRE), and Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC), as well as intercity and local buses. Passengers can access the Red Line on Metrorail.
The latest rehabilitation project is designed to improve current and future rail service, facilitate intermodal transportation and preserve and maintain the historic Station while providing better connections to the adjacent neighborhoods, businesses, and planned development.
Federal Railroad Administration’s Expansion Project Website
South of Union Station is the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) L’Enfant Plaza Station, served by Amtrak and VRE. This station is above the L’Enfant Plaza Metrorail station, which provides service on the Blue, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow lines. As a result, significantly more VRE passengers use this station instead of proceeding to Union Station to complete their journey via the Red Line.
A new enlarged station is being designed which will support simultaneous boarding of two full-length trains while two adjacent tracks will support freight service. The platform was shifted eastward to avoid the curved track just past 7th Street NW. Two elevators are proposed to connect more easily to the Metrorail station. This $80 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2029.
Encouraged by the C100, the DC Rail Plan was prepared by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to meet the requirements of the federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA), passed in 2008, as well as the subsequent State Rail Plan Guidance issued by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in 2013. The Act requires each state to have an approved rail plan as a condition of receiving future rail funding for either passenger or freight improvements. The DC State Rail Plan was published in 2017.
The C100 provided extensive comments regarding the vision needed to drive future planning, early involvement of communities that will be affected by any rail projects, the need for enhanced use of commuter and intercity passenger rail for District residents, commuters, and visitors to the Capital, and the need to separate passenger from freight service to support additional and more reliable commuter rail service.
Long Bridge
Long Bridge is a two-track railroad bridge, built in 1906 and owned by CSXT that spans the Potomac River. The Long Bridge Project will construct a new, two-track railroad bridge upstream of the existing bridge, creating a four-track corridor and constructing almost two miles of improvements with additional rail and pedestrian bridges between Arlington, VA and Washington, DC. This will eliminate a significant bottleneck on the East Coast rail network and enable separation of passenger and freight rail service, something the C100 has advocated for years. Also, as part of the mitigation for using some National Park Service parkland, a new bicycle-pedestrian bridge will be constructed spanning the Potomac River and George Washington Memorial Parkway, connecting Long Bridge Park in Virginia directly to East and West Potomac Parks.
An additional organization that supports expansion of passenger rail is the Greater Washington Partnership. They are focusing on connecting the major downtown centers of Baltimore, Washington and Richmond to maximize the economic opportunities available to the residents of the Capital region. This supports what the C100 has advocated for years, thru-running of MARC and VRE commuter trains throughout the region, with potential extension into Delaware and Pennsylvania.
This letter to D.C. Council Chairman Mendelson was sent in response to the Chairman’s inquiry concerning certain details of trains and tracks raised during the July 7th NCPC hearing on the Union Station Expansion project.
The Committee of 100 on the Federal City offers these comments and recommendations concerning National Park Service (NPS)’s May 21, 2020 STATEMENT OF FINDINGS FOR EXECUTIVE ORDER 11990 (PROTECTION OF WETLANDS), Long Bridge Project Environmental Impact Statement. The Statement of Findings announced that the NPS has determined that the new Long Bridge construction would adversely impact wetlands within the Long Bridge Project Area, and recommends mitigation.
The Committee views the Long Bridge Project as a vital transportation and urban development project to meet the increased freight and passenger/commuter needs of our growing region, providing alternatives to truck deliveries and vehicular congestion in the region. However, as we have expressed in prior comments on this Project, we believe that there are significant flaws in data projections leading to an underestimation of needed capacity and a failure to consider alternatives to meet that capacity.
The Committee views the Long Bridge Environmental Impact Study as a critical transportation and urban development project that can result in increased transportation options for the Nation’s Capital that will be sorely needed as the City and the Region continue to grow. The comments that follow reflect our concern that increased attention must be given to rail transportation in providing for increased personal and business travel in the region. We also recognize the need for adequate and safe freight transportation in and through the Region and suggest new ways that passenger and freight rail may be accommodated.
We applaud the DDOT for the progress it has made in addressing an often-overlooked transportation issue and for the Vision that it has articulated in the materials provided at the public meeting. We appreciate that railroad projects do not enjoy the same dedicated funding as road and bridge projects and therefore look forward to working with and supporting DDOT in its efforts to advance the rail mode and better coordination between rail and other modes of transportation. There is further work to be done in developing this phase of the DC Rail Plan and the Committee of 100 welcomes the opportunity to meet with DDOT to discuss these comments.
The Committee of 100 has reviewed the materials presented at the public meeting and we have concerns about the shared SW tracks and the number of cross-river train trips attributed to CSX.
I was glad to attend the open house on Monday and to see that the development of the DC State Rail Plan has begun. The Public Meeting Boards that were on display (http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55f18056e4b0e76a82e809d2/t/560aae44e4b0c7c832b2076f/1443540548107/SRP_PublicMeeting1_Boards_FINAL_reduced.pdf) offer a good start, but there are areas that need to be expanded or further explained.
VRE L’Enfant Plaza Station