Free Train Rides for the Whole Family

Last edited Thu Sep 29, 2022, 01:01 PM - Edit history (1)

You've got five days to do this. Through the end of September, this Friday, the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is operating on a fare-free basis systemwide. They're doing this so that people affected by the maintenance on the Yellow and Blue Metrorail lines have some way to get around.

This won't last long. VRE don't run on the weekend. Starting next Monday, you will have to pay a fare to ride the parts of the VRE not affected by the maintenance. It will still be fare-free from Alexandria and points north.

I got to thinking, would it be possible to ride the VRE for fun, just to rack up those rare VRE miles? Is there any northbound service in the afternoon that will let you take a southbound train, turn around, and come back north, all in one afternoon?

It depends. There is no northbound afternoon train on the Fredericksburg line, but there are two northbound afternoon trains on the Manassas line. In addition, there are two southbound trains on that line that get you as far as Broad Run in time to make at least one of those trains coming back.

Southbound train 325 leaves DC's Union Station at 1:15 p.m. and Alexandria at 1:38. It makes all the southbound stops. It gets to Manassas at 2:24 and Broad Run at 2:34. Southbound train 327 leaves Union Station at 3:20 and Alexandria at 3:43. It too makes all the southbound stops. It get to Manassas at 4:29 and Broad Run at 4:39. There's also an early southbound train, 321, that leaves DC at 6:35 a.m., if you want to turn this into an all-day event.

Northbound train 336 leaves Broad Run at 3:38 p.m. and Manassas at 3:46. It stops at Manassas Park and Burke Centre, but it does not stop at Rolling Road, Backlick Road, Crystal City, or L'Enfant. It arrives at Alexandria at 4:32 and Union Station at 4:57. Northbound train 338 leaves Broad Run at 5:10 p.m. and Manassas at 5:18. It does not stop again until Alexandria, which it reaches at 6:04. Its next stop is Union Station at 6:29.

That is, if all goes well. I tried this out last Friday. I went south on train 327. The crew on that train returns on train 338. On the way back from Broad Run, we hit a tree just north of Clifton. The train was cancelled. It went back to Manassas Park, where the passengers got off. I shared an Uber ride back to Alexandria. I did not get back home until 10:00. VRE is picking up the cost of the passengers' trips to Alexandria and DC up to $50.

Other than a parking lot and the end of a runway, there's not a whole lot to see at Broad Run, but Manassas has places to eat and a museum. Check out Manassas at https://visitmanassas.org/things-to-do/ or https://www.manassasva.gov/things_to_do/index.php. I see that the museum is closed for renovations. You could grab the kids, go for a free afternoon train ride, spend some time in Manassas, and come back home again, with no cost for the train fare.

Make sure that where you board is a station where the train will stop on the way back. Broad Run, Manassas, Alexandria, and Union Station are served by every train on the Manassas line. Again, this won't work for the Fredericksburg line, just the Manassas line. I'll be getting in as many trips as I can.

https://www.vre.org/sites/vre/assets/File/Fare%20Free%20PR.pdf