Do any northeast regional trains from DC to NYP start in DC?

From what I see, most start in Virginia. So by the time they get to DC, most empty seats are probably occupied. My reason for asking is I want to travel with my 6 year old son and not worry about finding two empty seats together. I know worse case scenario I can ask some folks to move, but would rather avoid having to do that. I also want to avoid having to travel between cars with luggage and my son in search of seats.

Going by memory here so I may be slightly off… Right now the first of the VA trains doesn’t arrive in DC until 9 AM-ish, so any of the earlier morning trains (including the Vermonter) would start in DC. And after about 4 PM, the only northbound trains coming from VA are the Carolinian (80), Palmetto (90), and train 66. Any others would start in DC.

The easiest way to check without a printed timetable would be to see if the train you want WAS-NYP shows up when searching for ALX-NYP, since all VA trains stop in ALX. Also if you search for train status, the trains starting in WAS shouldn’t have an arrival time listed, just a departure time.

fhussain44 said:

From what I see, most start in Virginia. So by the time they get to DC, most empty seats are probably occupied. My reason for asking is I want to travel with my 6 year old son and not worry about finding two empty seats together. I know worse case scenario I can ask some folks to move, but would rather avoid having to do that. I also want to avoid having to travel between cars with luggage and my son in search of seats.

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This shows NEC trains serving VA:
https://www.railpassengers.org/site/assets/files/20928/northeast-schedule-w06-031620.pdf
This shows NEC trains between WAS & NYP:
https://www.railpassengers.org/site/assets/files/20928/northeast-schedule-w02-010220.pdf
So any northbound trains on the 2nd schedule which aren't on the 1st schedule would be originating in WAS.

These are old schedules, so there may be some slight inaccuracies in times.

My impression is that when they cut the NEC schedules for Covid, what they mostly kept were the trains from Virginia. A lot of the DC-origin trains, including the 7:10 PM I used to take from DC, were eliminated, and even though they've been bringing back Northeast Regional runs, it still seems like most of them are coming up from Virginia. I think that for every new Virginia Northeast Regional that's added replaces an existing DC-origin Northeast Regional. If you really want to make sure your train originates at DC, best to use the Acela (and they have assigned seats, anyway.)

That said, I've taken a number of mid-day Northeast Regionals out of Washington, and unless you're in the back of the cattle line in the concourse, you should have a pretty good shot at getting a decent seat. I would suggest looking in the first couple of cars on the train, and do that by walking down the platform and boarding at the first open door. (Not all the doors and traps are open when the train is boarding at the lower level of Union Station. They can't finish that track 22 upgrade fast enough and get at least one high platform down there.

MARC Rider said:

That said, I've taken a number of mid-day Northeast Regionals out of Washington, and unless you're in the back of the cattle line in the concourse, you should have a pretty good shot at getting a decent seat. I would suggest looking in the first couple of cars on the train, and do that by walking down the platform and boarding at the first open door. (Not all the doors and traps are open when the train is boarding at the lower level of Union Station. They can't finish that track 22 upgrade fast enough and get at least one high platform down there.

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When you say "board at the first open door", does that mean the last car of the train? Do they usually keep that car empty for all the DC folks boarding?

Northbound I’d walk to the first car behind the engine that has its door open. I find it easier to look for open seats when walking towards the back so I start as close to the front of the train as I can.

Generally speaking, the 2 digit train numbers to/from WAS are either overnight long distance trains or 'longer distance' regional trains to/from points in GA, VA, NY and MA, to name a few. All (I think) 3 digit train numbers to/from WAS start or end there and head north/east to NYP and about 1/2 run through to BOS. The 4 digit 2xxx train numbers are all Acelas that likewise go to NYP and 1/2 or so run through to BOS.

Almost all 3 and 4 digit numbered trains board on the upper level at WAS which are all stub-end tracks and mostly high-level platforms only, so all doors should be open. On occassion, they'll board one of those trains from the lower level due to a platform or track out of service.

As for 'board at first open door' goes, the lower level tracks (Gates F & G as I recall) are all to/from points south of WAS and only go as far as NYP. As the lower level has only ground-level boarding (no high level platforms, yet), only a couple of doors may be open, probably so that a train crew member can help with getting passengers and luggage aboard. In most cases, the uniformed train crew member will be on the platform unless they are in the process of boarding someone. For the record, in my 50+ years of riding countless trains and subways, I can count on both hands the number of times I got to the farthest car away from the boarding point to find the door closed. It's almost always been at a low-platform station. But at my age, memories are fading faster than I'd like.

One of the things I've learned through the years is that most passengers on Amtrak, commuter trains and subways tend towards doing what is the easiest option. In particular, walking only to the nearest door or two to board. Grand Central Terminal (Metro North trains) is a prime example of this phenomina. Experienced commuters know that as a result, the nearest 2-4 cars of a commuter train (from the boarding point) will be packed and progressively less full the further one gets from the gate. On Metro North, for example, as the station buildings (other than GCT) are in the middle of (and behind) the 8-car or longer platform, the center cars of those trains get packed first while those at the ends of the platform much less so.

Lastly, on overnight long distance trains, the 'first door' is the only open door at intermediate small town/short platform (2-4 car lengths long) stations. In those situations, being at or near the head of the line can be beneficial.

bratkinson said:

All (I think) 3 digit train numbers to/from WAS start or end there and head north/east to NYP

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Wrong. There are several 3 digit trains that go south of WAS.
I checked with someone “in the know” and there is no distinguishing factor in the NER train #s (aka 3 digit #s) that indicate which ones go south of DC. They’ve just been extending existing trains as needed.

bratkinson said:

Generally speaking, the 2 digit train numbers to/from WAS are either overnight long distance trains or 'longer distance' regional trains to/from points in GA, VA, NY and MA, to name a few. All (I think) 3 digit train numbers to/from WAS start or end there and head north/east to NYP and about 1/2 run through to BOS. The 4 digit 2xxx train numbers are all Acelas that likewise go to NYP and 1/2 or so run through to BOS.

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The following 3 digit number trains run to/from VA. I just checked for RVR and CVS and figured that should pretty much capture all. Still there may be additional ones I missed:

121, 124, 125, 131, 138, 145, 147, 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 164, 174, 176, 185, 186, 194, 195.

fhussain44 said:

When you say "board at the first open door", does that mean the last car of the train? Do they usually keep that car empty for all the DC folks boarding?

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Sorry, I meant the door closest to the front of the train. I don't think they keeps cars empty for DC boardings, it's just that most of the passengers get off at DC, and most of the passengers boarding at DC are less likely to want to walk all they to the front of the train to board, as they are deposited on the platform closer to the end (south end) of the train.

jis said:

The following 3 digit number trains run to/from VA. I just checked for RVR and CVS and figured that should pretty much capture all. Still there may be additional ones I missed:

121, 124, 125, 131, 138, 145, 147, 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 164, 174, 176, 185, 186, 194, 195.

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121? Thats the one with the cab car on the back and turns for 122. And only runs on Sunday.

AmtrakBlue said:

Wrong. There are several 3 digit trains that go south of WAS.
I checked with someone “in the know” and there is no distinguishing factor in the NER train #s (aka 3 digit #s) that indicate which ones go south of DC. They’ve just been extending existing trains as needed.

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The "Northeast Corridor" should now be considered to run from Richmond to Boston, although a good number of the Richmond trains terminate in New York. And now there are also two trains a day from Roanoke that are Northeast Regionals as well.

AmtrakBlue said:

Wrong. There are several 3 digit trains that go south of WAS.
I checked with someone “in the know” and there is no distinguishing factor in the NER train #s (aka 3 digit #s) that indicate which ones go south of DC. They’ve just been extending existing trains as needed.

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jis said:

The following 3 digit number trains run to/from VA. I just checked for RVR and CVS and figured that should pretty much capture all. Still there may be additional ones I missed:

121, 124, 125, 131, 138, 145, 147, 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 164, 174, 176, 185, 186, 194, 195.

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I think my brain is turning to mush these days. This getting old combined with noticeable memory loss from covid 7 months ago gets more problematic every day! Many thanks for correcting the record!

AmtrakBlue said:

121? Thats the one with the cab car on the back and turns for 122. And only runs on Sunday.

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Yeah. It came up on weekend. I did not dig further.

Of course it is also the Amtrak site with its known issues providing the information, so some may require a pinch of salt too

jis said:

The following 3 digit number trains run to/from VA. I just checked for RVR and CVS and figured that should pretty much capture all. Still there may be additional ones I missed:

121, 124, 125, 131, 138, 145, 147, 151, 153, 156, 157, 158, 164, 174, 176, 185, 186, 194, 195.

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Coming at it from the positive rather than the negative, here is a list of northbound NER trains that don't stop at ALX, in departure order. Looking at the schedule, it appears that all trains serving VA stop at ALX, so I believe these all originate at WAS.

Tuesday:


Saturday:


Sunday:

MARC Rider said:

They can't finish that track 22 upgrade fast enough and get at least one high platform down there.

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Track 22 will be a normal low level platform when finished.

If you travel in Business Class you can select specific seats.

The real question may be "where do a lot of people get OFF?" I would guess many get off in DC. I know, when I go to Boston, a good 70% get off at NYP.

Joe from PA said:

The real question may be "where do a lot of people get OFF?" I would guess many get off in DC. I know, when I go to Boston, a good 70% get off at NYP.

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The other question to ask is "how many cars are on the train?" Most of the Northeast Regionals are at least 8 cars: 6 coaches, a cafe car, and the business class car. However, some of the extended trains, like the Vermonter and the Palmetto might only have 4 coaches. The Palmetto also has Amfleet 2 coaches, which have more legroom, but that means that the capacity of the car is smaller. Sometimes they add an extra Amfleet 1 coach or two to the Palmetto at Washington, but I don't think they did so the last time I rode it. As a consequence of this, although there will be a set for you, the train will appear more crowded than typical for a train departing from Washington. Lots of people get off at Washington, but lots of people get on, too.

Palmetto is officially an LD train!

Unless they have changed the boarding procedures, with a 6 year old child you should be eligible for priority boarding, which means you shouldn’t have to wait in the long boarding line to get on the train. You and your son should be among the first passengers to board. If there are a lot of pax getting of at DC, this should allow you to find a seat together easily