The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opened its Metropolitan Branch on April 30, 1873, providing direct service to Washington, D.C. from the west. Rockville station opened on May 19, 1873; the convenient access to Washington D.C. caused the town's population to more than double by 1890. The station and the 1887-added fright house were designed by Ephraim Francis Baldwin, head architect of the B&O. The station building is among the few original Metropolitan Branch stations to survive. It is a brick Victorian picturesque structure with some Eastlake detailing, particularly in the roofline and gable decoration. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as the Rockville Railroad Station. When Amtrak took over intercity passenger service on May 1, 1971, it did not include any service on the B&O; Rockville was served only by three daily commuter round trips to Brunswick and Martinsburg. Amtrak introduced the West Virginianin September 1971; it did not stop at Rockville. The Blue Ridge replaced the Potomac Special on May 5, 1973. The Blue Ridge was timed to serve as a commuter train; eastbound-only stops at Rockville and Gaithersburg were added on July 1, 1973. The Shenandoah, which stopped at Rockville in both directions, was added on October 31, 1976. The Blue Ridge began stopping at Rockville and Gaithersburg in both directions on weekends in 1977. The Shenandoah was replaced by the Capitol Limited on October 1, 1981, at which time weekend service ended on the Blue Ridge Construction of a modern station for Amtrak, state-subsidized B&O commuter trains, and the new Washington Metro system began in 1981. On March 2, 1981, the old station and freight house were moved about to the south to make way for construction. The new station opened on December 15, 1984 as part of a, four-station extension of the Red Line from Grosvenor–Strathmore station to Shady Grove station. In 1986, the Blue Ridge was taken over by MARC as part of the Brunswick Line—the state-subsidized ex-B&O commuter service—leaving the Capitol Limited as the only Amtrak service to Rockville.
Station layout
Rockville station is located on an embankment south of Park Road and east of Hungerford Drive and downtown Rockville, with the Amtrak/MARC platforms just east of the Metro platform. Metro uses a single island platform between the two tracks of the Red Line, while Amtrak and MARC use two low-level side platforms flanking the two tracks of the CSX Metropolitan Subdivision. A pedestrian underpass provides access to the platforms from parking lots, bus bays, and kiss and ride lots on the east and west sides of the station. A footbridge over Hungerford Drive connects the west side of the station to the Montgomery Countyoffice buildings.
