Virginia Railway Express


The Virginia Railway Express is a commuter rail service that connects the outer suburbs of Northern Virginia to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksburg Line from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the Manassas Line from station in Bristow, Virginia.
Service to Manassas began on June 22, 1992; the Fredericksburg service started on July 20, 1992.
VRE is owned by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission. The NVTC and PRTC are governmental entities that were created by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Local governments within each commission's geographic area are members of each commission. The service will undergo expansion as the result of a December 19, 2019, deal brokered between Virginia governor Ralph Northam and rail company CSX Transportation.

History

Discussions about commuter rail service in Northern Virginia had occurred as early as 1964 at the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, but died in the face of opposition by the freight railroads whose tracks offered ready access to core employment areas. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments eventually commissioned a regional feasibility study by R.L. Banks and Associates, Inc., and planning began in earnest for VRE in 1984. In the meantime, Washington Metro extended its service to much of the inner ring of Northern Virginia, including the independent cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and Arlington and Fairfax counties, which are members of the NVTC.
By 1986, it became apparent that Prince William and Stafford counties and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park could not reach agreement on how to support VRE by joining NVTC, so the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission was created for them. Legislation established a 2% motor fuels tax to support VRE expenses and other transportation investments.
By 1988, NVTC and PRTC established a VRE Operations Board, consisting of three voting members plus alternates from each of the two commissions, plus a voting representative of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The following year, the jurisdictions participating in the VRE project agreed to fund it according to a formula that weighted ridership by jurisdiction of residence with a factor of 90% and population with a factor of 10%. Arlington and Alexandria agreed to contribute to the project and have paid each year approximately what their formula share would be. The cities of Fredericksburg and Manassas Park joined PRTC in 1990 and signed the VRE Master Agreement and became participating jurisdictions in 1992.
Spotsylvania County joined in February 2010 to allow construction of Spotsylvania station, which opened in November 2015.

Operations

Rail service operates Monday through Friday during rush hour in the peak direction, with trains traveling toward Washington in the morning and toward either Manassas or Fredericksburg in the afternoon. Service is suspended or reduced on some holidays.
Through a cross-honoring agreement, VRE and the MARC Train allow passengers to transfer to trains on the other system that are going in the opposite direction of the rush-hour commuters.
VRE operates on lines owned and maintained by Amtrak, Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. Most of the Fredericksburg Line is on CSX tracks, while the portion of the Manassas Line west of Alexandria is mostly on Norfolk Southern tracks. Union Station in Washington, D.C., which is the northern terminus for most VRE trains, is owned and operated by Amtrak, including the station tracks.
VRE's trains were initially run by Amtrak. On November 5, 2009, VRE awarded a five-year, $85 million operating and maintenance contract to Keolis, a subsidiary of France's national railway. The change in operations took place on July 12, 2010, two weeks later than planned, to allow Keolis employees to learn how to run VRE trains.
Ridership on VRE increased an average of 13% each year from 2000 to 2005, but fell 2% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005. VRE said passengers affected by track maintenance and heat restrictions were taking other forms of transportation. The trend reversed in the summer of 2007, with ridership up nearly 2% in June and 4% in July compared with the corresponding months in 2006. As of October 2016, VRE transports an average of 19,400 passengers per day.
In 2015, VRE extended its contract with Keolis for five years, with an additional option for another five-year extension in 2020.

Lines and stations

VRE's fares are based on distance, with the 19 stations grouped into zones. The two lines diverge at Alexandria Union Station in Alexandria.

Fredericksburg Line

The Fredericksburg Line runs north–south along trackage that was once part of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad and is now part of CSX. Amtrak service to Richmond, Virginia, and points south also uses this line. An extension to Spotsylvania opened in November 2015.
StationFare ZoneMiles Connections
Union Station1Washington Metro, MARC, Amtrak
1Washington Metro
2Washington Metro, Metroway
Alexandria Union Station2Washington Metro, Amtrak
3Washington Metro
4
5Amtrak
5
6Amtrak
8
8
9Amtrak
9

Manassas Line

The Manassas Line runs east–west along trackage owned by Norfolk Southern. Amtrak's and, as well as trains bound for Roanoke, also use this line. VRE studied an extension of the Manassas Line west to the communities of Gainesville and Haymarket, but chose instead to pursue added service on the existing line to Broad Run.
Miles from
Union Station		Fare ZoneStateLocationStationConnections
1DCWashingtonWashington Union StationWashington Metro, MARC, Amtrak
1DCWashingtonWashington Metro
2VACrystal CityWashington Metro, Metroway
2VAAlexandriaAlexandria Union StationWashington Metro, Amtrak
3VASpringfield
4VABurke
4VABurke CentreAmtrak
6VAManassas Park
6VAManassasAmtrak
6VABristow

Seasonal Station

VRE operates one seasonal station in Clifton, Virginia. The location is only open for special season events in the town.

Proposed lines and stations

Haymarket extension

Starting in 2015, VRE began a study of extending service to Haymarket via a short branch line from the Manassas Line, but found that ridership would not sufficiently increase to justify the estimated $660 million cost and ended further consideration of the line.

Equipment

The Virginia Railway Express commenced operations in 1992 with ten EMD RP39-2C diesel locomotives, 38 Mafersa coaches, and 21 remanufactured Budd Rail Diesel Car from the MBTA. Morrison-Knudsen rebuilt the locomotives from EMD GP40s at a total cost of $5.9 million. Mafersa built the coaches new at $24.7 million, or $600,000–$700,000 per car. VRE sold 33 of the Mafersa coaches to the Connecticut Department of Transportation in 2004 for its Shore Line East service. QIT-Fer et Titane, a Quebec mining company, purchased the remaining five cars in 2008. Trains currently comprise one and on some occasions two MPI MP36PH-3C locomotives that pull their fleet of Pullman Company and Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo double decker passenger cars. Train lengths range usually from at least four cars to a maximum of eight cars.

Locomotive fleet

VRE also operated a pair of EMD F59PHI locomotives and 18 high capacity bi-level Bombardier cars leased from Sound Transit between 2003 and 2006; they have been returned and replaced by locomotives V50–V69 and the Sumitomo bi-level cars.

Coach fleet

NumbersYears BuiltBuilderModelSeats
405, 408, 412–413, 4151956Pullman CompanyGallery I trailer car157
421–4291956Pullman CompanyGallery II trailer car157
431, 433, 437, 440 & 4491960–68Pullman CompanyGallery III trailer car157
710–730*2006–08Sumitomo / Nippon SharyoGallery IV cab car123
800–819*, 850–869, 870–8792007–09Sumitomo / Nippon SharyoGallery IV trailer car132* / 144
820–827*†2014Sumitomo / Nippon SharyoGallery IV trailer car132

Safety and accidents

On January 5, 2006, at 6:45 am, Fredericksburg line train No. 304 bound for Washington, D.C., derailed at Possum Point, just north of Quantico. Four people, including the assistant conductor, suffered minor injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the derailment was intimately related to CSX's maintenance practices: a switch point had been repeatedly identified as deteriorating, but CSX failed to replace it. Eventually, the excessively worn and chipped point caused the lead truck of a passenger car to derail—the fourth car on train 304.
On October 3, 2012, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell launched a review of "multiple internal control issues", including reports of corruption and favoritism, that "call into question the management of the Virginia Railway Express". For example, VRE managers disregarded warnings by a former employee, later borne out, that a train would hit the new Broad Run platform.