While I have been using WMATA Metro1 and bus for years to go places with my bike, using commuter rail and Amtrak is a more recent practice. Last fall, I identified a C&O Canal Tow Path ride via MARC Brunswick line as a potential adventure.
Bikes on MARC
Bicycles are generally permitted on MARC trains with some published exceptions. At time of publishing, all Brunswick line trains allow bikes. No additional fees are charged.
While some MARC train cars have bike racks, not all of them do – two bungee cords are required. Attempting to board a car without bungee cords will result in removal.2
Link: MARC Brunswick Line schedule
Choosing a C&O Canal entry point
While the Penn and Camden MARC lines runs daily, the Brunswick line only runs on weekdays, primarily during rush hour. That limits the opportunities to get to the C&O Canal. The earliest train leaves Union State inbound3 for Brunswick at 1:30 p.m. This meant a few considerations:
- Time off from work would be required
- It would be best to do during the summer time, where there is ample daylight
- Not all Brunswick line trains stop at all stations, including…Brunswick. Some stop at Frederick instead.
Since I have a lot of PTO to use, the first was not an issue. The second needed a little consideration. Long days are often hot and humid days.4 However, the thought of being on the C&O Towpath after dark is a bit more daunting. There’s dark and there’s linear National Park Service land dark. Given my personal schedule, I decided the hot and humidity would just have to be dealt with if I wanted to do the ride.
Dickerson or Point of Rocks were the two stations I considered. Given that Dickerson meant getting on the Tow Path at milepost 42, I choose that station. Point of Rocks is about six miles further west which adds eight minutes on the train and probably at least 30 minutes on the bike.
DC to Dickerson
I wound taking the 1:30 p.m. inbound train to Dickerson. In about 55 minutes I went from Union Station to Dickerson. Going from the Ivy City railyards up to Silver Spring seemed longer than 13 minutes, but that’s probably the fastest way between the two locations. Another 13 minutes through the old suburbs of Kensington and Garrett Park and we were in Rockville. That’s pretty quick.
From there it was a few more minutes of sprawl and crossing Interstate 270. Shortly thereafter, we rolled into Montgomery County countryside and the Agricultural Reserve. By 2:25, I was exiting at Dickerson with one other passenger. The small Dickerson station was closed and there were just a few cars in the 16 or so parking spaces.
By car, Google Maps says it’s 1 hour to travel that distance outside of rush hour. During rush hour, much longer. Of course, I was going one-way, so that didn’t matter to me. However, knowing you can take avoid driving and be in business districts so quickly has got to be appealing.
The ride back to D.C.!
READ MORE: Bicycling 42 miles on the C&O Canal after a ride up the MARC Brunswick line
Footnotes
- I’ve taken my bike on Metro rail and bus, Alexandria’s DASH bus, VRE, SEPTA subway and commuter rail, Amtrak and the New York subway over the last year. ↩︎
- I learned first hand in 2025, went out and bought some bungee cords at Fragers Hardware only for the next train to have bike racks. ↩︎
- While all lines terminate at Washington, D.C., MARC says that’s outbound. That’s perhaps a bit provincial, but at least it’s consistent. Even though the Brunswick line actually ends in West Virginia sometimes. ↩︎
- and this one was very humid ↩︎