Some evening stops at Boyds, Dickerson and Metropolitan Grove will be dropped under changes to MARC’s Brunswick Line schedule, set to take effect Monday, Jan. 14.
Maryland transportation officials announced the changes Monday. Major changes include:
- The 3:30 p.m. train from Washington won’t stop in Boyds and Dickerson
- A 5:05 p.m. stop has been added at Metropolitan Grove in Gaithersburg
- Train No. 893 from Washington drops stops at Garrett Park, Washington Grove, Boyds and Dickerson
A side-by-side comparison of the changes is available at MTA.Maryland.gov.
The Brunswick Line is part of the MARC (Maryland Area Regional Commuter) train system and carries thousands of commuters between Washington, DC, and Martinsburg, WV, stopping through Germantown along the way.
In 2011 MARC officials presented plans to change the Brunswick Line, they said, in order to keep it on schedule during peak times, Patch has reported. But what was proposed would have left 90-mintute service gaps between some of the trains at Boyds and Dickerson, changes that were met with disapproval from the transit system’s own Riders’ Advisory Council and the Montgomery County-based advocacy group Action Committee for Transit (ACT).
Transit officials made further revisions.
But a representative on MARC’s Riders’ Advisory Council told a West Virginia newspaper that the schedule appeases Montgomery and Frederick County riders at the expense of West Virginia commuters.
"It leaves West Virginia riders holding the bag,” Vince Hodge, a resident of Maritnsburg, WV, reportedly told the The Journal News. The article is posted at the newspaper’s website, Journal-News.net.
At issue, according to the article, was how West Virginians could no longer catch the 4:55 p.m. train to Martinsburg, WV. Also, the so-called “late train” from Washington, that had left Union Station at 7:15 p.m. and arrived in Martinsburg at 9:14 p.m., now stopped short in Brunswick, leaving West Virginia commuters having to take a connecting bus.
The changes to West Virginia stops have been in effect since summer 2012.
I agree West Virginia commuters have it tough. There are only three trains to and from Martinsburg. But seriously, you live 2.5 hours away. Expecting lots of easy commuting options to DC from that far away is not reasonable. If you want to live out there, that is great. I love it out there. But that's the price you pay for living so far away.