August

• June from Richmond asks
  How can the public help VRE serve more locations and times?

  VRE Response
  Thanks for your question June.  For more about building rail service beyond our current footprint in Virginia have a look at the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority page at: Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (vapassengerrailauthority.org) 

   

• M from Fredericksburg, VA asks
  Are you going to have bidirectional weekend service for the Fare Free month of September?

  VRE Response
  Thanks for the question M.  We will not be offering bidirectional weekend service in September.  Usage agreements do not currently provide for weekend service.  In the coming years we hope to begin a limited weekend service, stay tuned.

• David from Manassas asks
  When is the new extended Rolling Road Station Platform going to start being used?

  VRE Response
  David, please drop us a note at vre.org or give us a call at 703-684-1001 and we'll get you an update from our project manager.

   

• Gerry from Fredericksburg, VA asks
  Comment! It was good seeing the VRE staff at "meet the management" venue at Alexandria during July- Good to see that we are getting back to normalcy - Thank you Rich and Chris along with the entire organization for the efforts presented in support of commuters'. BRAVO ZULU!

  VRE Response
  Gerry, thanks!  It was good to see you and all of our riders and as you say get back to some normalcy.  Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you on the train.

   

• Gerry from Fredericksburg, VA asks
  The express train is scheduled to be an express train- Why do we wait for FIVE minutes before leaving Alexandria when train 302 is right behind us... The extra FIVE minutes does make a difference.. Usually the Manassas train has departed... Please can the train depart after passengers have dis-embarked on train 300 in Alexandria..

  VRE Response
  Thanks for your question.  We understand your position on this, but as ridership trends have changed over time, Alexandria in the morning has become an origination station for some riders.  They would then be waiting 10 minutes for the next scheduled departure.  For this reason we no longer designate 300's stop at Alexandria as an "L" stop.  

   

• Brad from Fredericksburg, VA asks
  Any chance we could have "mask cars" for those attempting to avoid COVID exposure? (In theory, this wouldn't be any different than the concept of a Quiet Car.)

  VRE Response
  Brad, we do not have plans at this time for "mask cars," but for those with flexibility in travel times we have a page which shows the ridership levels.  Check Train Utilization Trends - vre to find the trains with the most available seating.

   

• David from Manassas asks
  During FREE September, will FRC's be handed out for delays of 30 Minutes or longer? I have heard that there will be new FRCs that are only good for 30 days not 2 years like the old ones?

  VRE Response
  David, thanks for your question.  We will not be checking tickets as everyone will be enjoying our service for free, sorry, but we will also not be handing out FRC's for 30 minute or longer delays.  We will still be tracking on-time performance and all issues will be handled in the usual manner to ensure service standards are enforced.  Also, not sure where you heard about FRC's only being good for 30 days, the current FRC's are good until June 30, 2024.

   

• Ravinder from Bristow VA asks
  Can I transfer my paper ticket to the VRE mobile app ?

  VRE Response
  Please reach out to us at 703-684-1001 or at gotrains@vre.org and someone will assist if we can.

   

• Christine from Woodbridge asks
  Thank you for the excellent service! My only comment is that there is a large pot hole near the entrance of the Rippon station's parking lot, in case that has not yet been reported.

  VRE Response
  Thank you Christine, we are initiating a pavement repair project there which will include patching all potholes.

   

• Monica from Spotsylvania, VA asks
  I don't have a question or concern. I just want to express appreciation to the conductors on the train. I ride the Fredericksburg line 310 in the morning and 311 in the evening. I just want to say that the conductors are awesome!!! They are always so pleasant, helpful and professional. I've been a regular on the train for close to three years. I've never had a bad experience. I wouldn't even consider the periodic delays a bad experience. I know that things happen and folks are doing the best they can. All of conductors are great. But those on 310 and 311 are the best!!!

  VRE Response
  Monica, thanks for your kind words.  It's always great to hear compliments!  We'll also pass it along to the Keolis managers.

   

• Christopher from Burke VA asks
  Who is responsible for and How often do you pick up the trash inside the Burke VRE parking structure?

  VRE Response
  Fairfax County maintains the parking structure, VRE is responsible for the platform area.  

   

• Christopher from Burke VA asks
  Can you please (re)place a trash can at the Burke VRE station parking garage on the bridge to planform level. Thank you.

  VRE Response
  We'll see if we can get the county to place one there.

   

• Theo from Stafford, VA asks
  Does VRE hold a position regarding people riding up and down the train platforms on their scooters? There have been quite a few close call where people have almost been run over. Does the liability reside with the driver/rider of the scooter or VRE in the case of an accident? Also, these scooters are being placed on the seats of the cars. What's VRE's position on their placement in the cars? Thank you

  VRE Response
  Thanks for your question Theo.  Passengers with scooters and bicycles should not ride on the platforms.  Smaller scooters may be placed under the passenger's seat; larger scooters must be secured in accordance to the same rules as bicycles as outlined in the VRE Tariff.  Scooters should not be placed on seats.

   

• Bob from Burke asks
  Hello. Just curious. What happened to using the storage track just south of the L'Enfant station? It was built several years ago but seems was never used. Thanks.

  VRE Response
  Thanks for the question Bob.  The siding south of L'Enfant Station is nearly ready for future storage needs.  We currently have enough midday storage for all of our trains except one, which we put in the siding just north of the station. 

   

• Walter from Manassas, VA asks
  The Commuter Store at Crystal City display board is not updated to show the proper departure times. On Monday, the departure time for Manassas still showed 3:45 PM. The schedule for that train was 3:35 PM. I suspect other train times are wrong. Can you please have this checked out? I would have missed the train if I did not get out there 15 minutes prior to the time displayed on this board.

  VRE Response
  Walter, 

  Thanks for letting us know about the issue.  We have contacted the Commuter Store and will follow up to make sure we're providing the current schedule.

   

• Mike from Spotsylvania asks
  Last Thursday, I got on a train at L'Enfant at 5:27 p.m. I thought it was train 311 for Fredericksburg. I had headphones in and wasn't paying attention to the announcements. Fortunately, I did hear the announcement at Alexandria that this was the Manasssas line train. When I told the conductor about my mistake as I was leaving the train, he said that the Manassas train ALWAYS leaves in 311's slot Wednesday-Friday due to other train movements. It was completely my mistake not to pay closer attention to the sign on the side of the train and the earlier announcements, but c'mon, isn't this something you should tell people in a Train Talk or something? Or did I miss that, too?

  VRE Response
  Mike,

  We'll speak to the crew on the train, as this is not always the case.  Trains leaving Union Station do experience congestion that can cause this to happen.  It's always a good practice to verify the train's destination sign as it pulls into the station, and we're glad you were able to transfer at Alexandria.

   

• Matthew from Fredericksburg, VA asks
  I see that your rescue engine in Spotsylvania is facing north and apparently worthless for any afternoon issues. Would it be possible to have it face south with a cab car so that it could be used in the afternoon if there is an issue? Could that combo not work for northbound morning issues?

  VRE Response
  Each of our southern maintenance and facilities keep a protect locomotive ready to rescue a train if needed. These locomotives are facing north because they are generally ready to protect the morning, northbound service. The protect locomotive at the storage yard in DC is facing south to protect the afternoon service. 

   

• Rainman from Ruther Glen, VA asks
  Greetings. I ride the Fredericksburg 303 three consecutive days a week. I sit in the same car and in the same seat each day. The window for my "seat" has had a "skin oil" smear on it on consecutive days at least twice this month. I thought that the trains cars were being wiped down twice a day?

  VRE Response
  Rainman,

  Thanks for letting us know, we'll get it taken care of, and we'll remind the cleaners to check the windows when going through the cars.

   

• Mark from Burke VA asks
  I've taken the VRE Manassas line to work since moving to NoVA 15+ years ago and started commuting back to the office in June. I didn't realize how awful the train schedule had become with what were relatively evenly spaced trains now (40, 60 and 65 minute gaps are too long and future trains don't help me commute today). But I figured with ridership being so low, the on time performance would be OK and the commute shouldn't be too bad. The sheer volume of delays, including many at or over 10 minutes that never get alerts that I have experienced just this summer would make me re-consider my commute if gas prices weren't so high. I've lost track of the times I hurried from my office to the train station, only to arrive and see 10 minute delays, that all too often grow . Most don't seem related to the heat (and I'm not talking about the altered summer schedule for the Fredericksburg line), but when should we expect the number of delays to decrease?

  VRE Response
  Mark,

  We’re sorry to hear the schedule on the Manassas Line doesn’t fit your daily routine very well.  When working with our partner railroads to obtain “slots” for our trains under this schedule we had to work with new times and increased rail traffic.  In conjunction with past ridership patterns and the times available we tried to accommodate as many riders as we could to minimize inconvenience.  As always, we will continue to look at our schedule and if an opportunity arises to make adjustments that better suit our passengers, we will work with our transportation partners in the region to make changes. 

  We also understand your concerns about on-time performance, and we are aware of the impact it has on you.  While ridership is relatively low compared to the past, we are running our full schedule and Amtrak continues to add trains back into their schedule.  The freight railroads have also increased the number of trains they are operating, so while ridership may be low, rail traffic is increasing.  This is not an excuse, however, and we are meeting daily with representatives of Amtrak, CSX, and Keolis to attempt to mitigate some of the issues causing delays.  We will also review our notification methods to see if we can give more notice when delays occur.

   

   

Welcome to the August 2022 edition of the Online Forum. 

We’re glad to see many of you returning to the trains and welcome to those of you who are new to VRE. 

Some of you may have heard, VRE is fare free in September!  As a “thank you” to our riders and as an easy way for those unfamiliar with VRE to try our service, all rides in all zones in ALL of September are free.  For those of you who allocate funds each month, please check your Train Talk messages and our website for information about September funds. 

We have the usual group here from VRE, Keolis, and CSX to answer your questions, so let’s get started.