Originally Posted by cptlflyer
Don't bet on it.
BUT, I don't see what's in it for MTA -- they have MARC service on those Amtrak lines (MARC is operated under agreement between MTA, AMTRAK, and CSX), which is essentially what several of you have suggested Metro do.
For those of you who've done it, BWI is an EASY trip from Downtown Washington using MARC... or, at the very least, anyone who uses the METRO in DC will appreciate that a METRO link would certainly not be faster or easier!!!!!!!
This is a good point, especially that last bit. It might get easier, I suppose, if the station were right at the terminal. You could get to downtown DC without changing modes of transport. (Existing options both require a bus to the train.) And maybe it would have more frequency. But it wouldn't get faster certainly.
Probably the frequency is what they'd like to see increased. I don't see why this wouldn't still be easier to do with a couple more MARC trainsets and running some service on weekends. I dunno why they wouldn't look at this. Surely the biggest cost of such an undertaking would be building the track. Getting some more equipment and staff on existing track should be less costly and take a lot less than 20 years too. Yeah, that doesn't service those new stops that someone apparently really wants to have, but why bet only on the big pie in the sky option?