BWI Rail Station

Infobox Station
style=Amtrak
name=Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Rail Station

---

image_size=350
image_caption=BWI Rail Station as viewed from the parking garage.
address=7 Amtrak Way
BWI Airport, MD 21240
line=Amtrak:rail color box|system=Amtrak|line=Acela ExpressMARC:
other=Baltimore Light Rail via Shuttle bus
platform=
parking=
bicycle=
passengers=587,845
pass_year=2007
pass_percent=5
opened=1980
rebuilt=
ADA=
code=BWI
owned=Amtrak
zone=
services=The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Rail Station is an Amtrak and MARC commuter rail train station in Linthicum, an unincorporated area in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States.

The station is located on the airport complex just over a mile from the main terminal of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. A free shuttle bus runs between the station and the airport terminal every 15 minutes from 5 a.m.–1 a.m. and every 25 minutes from 1 a.m.–5 a.m.

History

The station was dedicated on October 23, 1980 and was the first intercity rail station in the U.S. built to service an airport. It is about a 20-minute train ride south of Baltimore's Penn Station, a 20-minute ride north of New Carrollton, Maryland (and its connection with the Orange Line of Washington Metro), and a 35-minute ride north of Washington's Union Station.

Rail services

The station is part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and is served by the MARC Penn Line as well as the following Amtrak routes:

* "Acela Express"
* "Northeast Regional"
* "Vermonter"

Infrastructure

The station's small station building, which houses a ticketing desk, waiting room, and small concessions area, is dwarfed by the adjacent parking garage, filled by the many local commuters who ride the rails to work in Baltimore or Washington. The massive garage was built in the late 1990s to replace a smaller surface lot, and does not typically fill to capacity. [cite web | title = Availability of MARC Parking | url = http://www.mtamaryland.com/services/marc/serviceInformation/Parking_Camden_Penn.cfm | accessdate = 2008-07-13]

Platform renovations

Amtrak is nearing completion on the station's first major renovation project, started in 2006, to rebuild the 1,050 ft southbound platform. The existing high-level platform structure was completely replaced with new precast concrete segments, and new signs, lights, shelters, railing, canopies, and benches were installed.

A project to rebuild and extend the northbound platform with identical facilities has now commenced with foundations being laid for the platform extensions.

Connecting transportation

* There are usually—if not always—taxis queued at the station to meet arriving trains.
* The station is indirectly connected—via the aforementioned airport shuttle bus—to Baltimore Light Rail, for which there is a stop (BWI Airport Light Rail Stop) at the airport terminal.
* MTA bus route 17 serves the station; it goes to Arundel Mills in one direction and the Patapsco Baltimore Light Rail station in the other.
* The [http://www.bwiairport.com/around_town/the_bwi_trail BWI Trail] , a hiker/biker trail, runs by the station.

References

External links