Takoma station

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to do business with settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains. The railroad faced competition from several existing and proposed enterprises, including the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike, built in 1797, the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. At first, the B&O was located entirely in the state of Maryland; its original line extending from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook, Maryland, opened in 1834. There it connected with Harper's Ferry, first by boat, then by the Wager Bridge, across the Potomac River into Virginia, and also with the navigable Shenandoah River.

MARC is a commuter rail system in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 1,291,900, or about 9,100 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2022, much less than the pre-pandemic daily ridership of 40,000 per weekday.

The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest at 74 miles, is operated under contract to MARC by Alstom and runs on CSX-owned track, including the Metropolitan, Old Main Line, and Cumberland Subdivisions. It is the successor to commuter services provided by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), which date to the mid-19th century.

Silver Spring is a Washington Metro and MARC Train station in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line and Brunswick Line. On the Metro, Silver Spring is the first station in Maryland of the eastern end of the Red Line, and is the second-busiest Metro station in Maryland after Shady Grove. North of this station, it goes underground as it heads towards the underground terminus of Glenmont.

During the afternoon rush hour of June 22, 2009, a subway train wreck occurred between two southbound Red Line Washington Metro trains in Northeast, Washington, D.C., United States. A moving train collided with a train stopped ahead of it; the train operator along with eight passengers died, and 80 people were injured, making it the deadliest crash in the history of the Washington Metro.

Rosslyn is the westernmost station on the shared segment of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines of the Washington Metro. It is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, United States. Rosslyn is the first station in Virginia heading westward from the District on the Orange and Silver Lines and southward on the Blue Lines. It is one of four interchange points on the Metrorail system west of the Potomac River and located in a growing business district.

Fort Totten is a Washington Metro station in northeastern Washington, D.C. It acts as a transfer point between the Green, Yellow and Red Lines. It is the last station on the Green and Yellow lines in the District of Columbia before heading into Maryland. It is one of two stations with three levels, and is doubly unique in being the only multi-level transfer station built above ground and being the only such station to have island platforms on both levels, as opposed to just the lower level. The station's name comes from a Civil War-era fortification which itself was named after General Joseph Gilbert Totten, the Chief Engineer of the antebellum US Army.

Silver Spring is a Washington Metro and MARC Train station in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line and Brunswick Line. On the Metro, Silver Spring is the first station in Maryland of the eastern end of the Red Line, and is the second-busiest Metro station in Maryland after Shady Grove. North of this station, it goes underground as it heads towards the underground terminus of Glenmont.

The Metropolitan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the District of Columbia and the U.S. state of Maryland. The 79-mile line runs from Washington, D.C., northwest to Weverton, Maryland, along the former Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on twin-track routes due to pragmatic and cost reasons. They are also useful within larger stations where local and express services for the same direction of travel can be provided from opposite sides of the same platform thereby simplifying transfers between the two tracks. An alternative arrangement is to position side platforms on either side of the tracks. The historical use of island platforms depends greatly upon the location. In the United Kingdom the use of island platforms is relatively common when the railway line is in a cutting or raised on an embankment, as this makes it easier to provide access to the platform without walking across the tracks.

MARC is a commuter rail system in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 1,291,900, or about 9,100 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2022, much less than the pre-pandemic daily ridership of 40,000 per weekday.

The Capitol Limited is a daily Amtrak train between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, running 764 miles (1,230 km) via Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Service began in 1981 and was named after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Capitol Limited which ended in 1971 upon the formation of Amtrak. It carries the Amtrak train numbers 29 and 30, which were previously assigned to the discontinued National Limited.

The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest at 74 miles, is operated under contract to MARC by Alstom and runs on CSX-owned track, including the Metropolitan, Old Main Line, and Cumberland Subdivisions. It is the successor to commuter services provided by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), which date to the mid-19th century.

The Red Line is a rapid transit line of the Washington Metro system, consisting of 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is a primary line through downtown Washington and the oldest and busiest line in the system. It forms a long, narrow "U", capped by its terminal stations at Shady Grove and Glenmont.

Grosvenor–Strathmore is a rapid transit station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro in North Bethesda, Maryland. Grosvenor–Strathmore is the last above-ground station for Glenmont-bound Red Line trains until NoMa-Gallaudet U; south of the station, trains cross over the Capital Beltway before descending underground. It is one of a number of stations on the Rockville Pike corridor in Montgomery County.

Shady Grove is a Washington Metro station in Derwood in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The station was opened on December 15, 1984 as part of a four-stop extension of the line from Grosvenor–Strathmore station out to Shady Grove. The station is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

Glenmont is a Washington Metro station in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line. It is the northern terminus of the Red Line.