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The Dripby Mark Reutter7:20 pmDec 4, 20130

MARC weekend service to begin on Penn Line

Nine roundtrips on Saturday and six roundtrips on Sunday between Baltimore and D.C. New service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and other holidays.

Above: WEEKEND WARRIORS: The Penn Line will host the first weekend commuter trains in Maryland.

The first trains to operate on weekends on the MARC system will start this Saturday (December 7) with nine roundtrips between Baltimore Penn Station and Washington Union Station, with six roundtrips on Sundays.

In addition to offering quick and inexpensive ($7 each way) transportation between the two cities, the Penn Line trains will serve BWI-Thurgood Marshall Airport in time for the holiday rush. The fare between Baltimore and BWI is $4, and from BWI to Washington $6.

Long a dream of rail advocates – and families seeking an easy way to enjoy Washington’s museums and other attractions – the new rail service was made possible by the state gas tax hike last July.

The new service is part of a package of transportation initiatives launched by Gov. Martin O’Malley to fund highway and mass transit improvements.

Service on Some Holidays

In addition to weekend service, Penn Line trains will now run on some holidays, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day and the Fourth of July.

There will be no MARC service on five holidays – Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
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Weekend Penn Line Schedule

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The new service will allow riders to avoid the high cost of traveling on Amtrak during the weekends. MARC weekly and monthly commuter tickets will be honored on the weekend trains.

Saturday departures from Penn Station will start at 7:35 a.m. and end at 9:15 p.m. Sunday departures will start at 9:15 a.m. and the last train will leave Baltimore at 5:30 p.m.

The trains will stop at all intermediate stations: West Baltimore. Halethorpe, BWI Marshall, Odenton, Bowie Station and New Carrollton.

The first two morning trains will operate from MARC’s Martin Airport Station serving eastern Baltimore County. Two trains will return to Martin Airport from D.C. in the evening.

NOTE: There will still be no weekend service on MARC’s Camden and Brunswick Lines.

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