For two years, I have been riding the VRE Fredericksburg Line from Rippon to L'Enfant and back. The scheduled ride to L'Enfant is 51 minutes and it's 47 minutes back and that is accurate, in my experience. On-time rates aren't bad. They do run a different schedule on snow days, so check their website on those days. Before living in Woodbridge I was closer to DC and for two-and-a-half years had a metro ride of about 20-22 minutes on the orange line to L'Enfant. I prefer 47-51 minutes on the VRE to 20 minutes on metro. The VRE is smoother, cleaner, more comfortable, less crowded, and the VRE does not have the metro's unexplained stops and unintelligible announcements. read more

Train has been consistently late or tracks under repair for over two weeks. Notification today at 4:01am said all trains were running on time. Still standing on the platform at 5:15 and no train...no schedule update. Officially done with VRE. Several others on the platform said they are now switching to other commute options. The only consistency in the VRE schedule is that it is inconsistent and non existent. Update: 5/8/26 Yes... continuing the disappointment, VRE is late for yet another consecutive time. 20 minute delay is what is claimed, but who are they kidding. Update on the update: trains now delayed 45 minutes. Update on the updates update: trains now moving. They are 1 hour behind. The train still has not arrived, but at least it is moving. I decided to go home and take a vacation day. By the time I get to work, I am already late and need to use leave to make up the time. Might as well stay home. My prediction is next week... continued construction followed by more delays, disappointment, and riders seeking out commuter buses, van pools and slug lines. I have already made the switch. I recommend you do the same. read more

Virginia Railway Express - Trains moving after 1 hour delay - Public Transportation Near Me - Alexandria, Virginia

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Nice train and the conductors are friendly BUT they are late practically EVERYDAY! Both coming and going home...Sigh...

almost everyday issues delays and slowdown. Crews don't explain the issues well. Wish there are other alternatives.

amazing service, very accurate on time, rare delays and when there is one they start to pick up speed and manage to arrive at the expected time. Clean and relaxing way to get home. I get nice nap to and from work. Wakeup refreshed and ready to start my day. I go to Union station all the way to Woodbridge and vice versa. read more

This station, despite its relatively non-central location in the near-sterile Crystal City, a sprawling Arlington community of glass and steel skyscrapers a stone's throw from National Airport, is busier than you can shake a stick... It serves almost exclusively a commuting community on both the Manassas and the Fredericksburg VRE lines, and during the rush hour times there are thousands of people who use the station. The ADA accessible Crystal City Station is located behind the Waterpark Apartments on Crystal Drive. Even though the information states that there is no parking, that means no FREE parking. There is ample parking for substantial sums of money within a block or so. A wonderful point of this station's location is that it is located within feet of the Mt Vernon Trail extension to Crystal City, allowing for either on boarding or off boarding of folks who wish to have at least some exercise before or after work. It is also a block across Crystal Drive from the Yellow and Blue Metro entrance. From or to the station, one can take the Arlington ART buses that go everywhere in this wonderful county, as well as Metrobus into the District. The station features vending machines that can validate or sell tickets provided the user has credit or debit cards. read more

From my experience, 3 out of 4 trips have issues and delays. And they are not good at keeping riders informed of the reason and how long a wait will be. Honestly...VRE is horrible read more

Terrible, to not only get discriminated on I was asked to get off and I'm literally one stop away.

I Started riding the VRE in March. At first it was a little difficult getting my monthly Mass Transportation Benefit Program set up, but one call to Debbie at VRE and I was "Good to Go"! She was incredible at helping me get everything set up in the system - now it is like clockwork every month. (I recommend the mobile App.) Now for the trains, the cars are super Clean and the Conductors are always awesome. All of the conductors make it a point to greet us every morning and evening with a warm greeting. The Engineer will even greet you with a wave as he pulls the train up to the platform. The conductors I have met go out of their way to make you feel like you are like family. I usually ride the Fredericksburg 302 in the morning and return on the 303. Everyone should ride the VRE trains to experience what I think is, The best kept secret in commuting! read more

I use this train for convenience. When you live further away from DC, this is the only option besides taking a 2 hr bus ride or driving (basically being on 66 or 95). The schedules could be improved. The latest ride out is around 645PM. That's tough when you want to do things after work in DC or even work late ( which helps my workaholic mentality). The train is always on time, conductors are pleasant, you can eat and drink, use the rest room, and sleep. There's also a quiet car for serious," I want to be left alone" people. The perks of Friday night rides is having a chance at seeing a rider drink "apple juice," and literally rolling down the aisle while getting off until the train slows to a stop and they meet the door. Problems come with nasty coughers that hack openly and purposefully, riders that bring stinky yogurts or exotic homeland delicacies, sitting beside a person with chronic halitosis or BO ( and are totally kool with that since it takes years of neglect to get caked with bacteria), rude skinny byches that take everyone's time while they climb or descend the stairs in heels ( when it's suggested to wear low platformed shoes), having the bathroom door slide open after a camper or even during a time one occupies it, goofy or plain rude people getting in the way for no reason, and limited parking. Most of them think they can harrass you as they want because they are government employees, while failing to realize contractors ride it as well and have options to protect themselves from being treated poorly off of the job. A woman should not have to sit next to a man adjusting his penis next to them or listen to federal employees talk about their colleagues in a horrible way. What tops this is customer service never responding to emails and calls. The managers are in "meetings." read more

The VRE does the job well. Yes, it only runs Mo-Fri, and there's only two lines, and yes, there's only a select amount of trains, but it is not all the bad that people make it out to be. The trains are clean and they are often on time (but I think that's largely because the CSX and NS dispatchers give priority to them during the peak times). Overall though, I've had good experiences with them. You can buy your tickets either online or at the station, make sure you validate though each time before you board! And then you're good to go. I prefer to sit on the top of the multilevel cars because you get a good view during the ride, which is pretty scenic and a good mix of urban sprawl and rural forests and countryside, which make the ride pretty and well, faster. If you do sit in the quiet car, please follow the rules. And always have your ticket out so the conductors can do their jobs quicker. It only makes your trip seamless. Otherwise, get on board and enjoy your ride. read more

Sucks! Was on the VRE stuck on the tracks for 5 hours at Alexandria. VRE has horrible communication. First, they said it was flooding but Amtrak trains continually broke down on the tracks. VRE sends emails out blaming the delays on down trees which wasn't true. Left work at 4:00 pm and didn't get home until after 10:00 pm. I'm back at it again this morning and VRE already has major delay issues due to faulty equipment. VRE is not reliable, management is not transparent and communication is horrible. Customer service is horrible when you email or call VRE. They are unresponsive, rude and/or give you a response that is not helpful. read more

I sent an email to the main VRE email address last week about a problem with one of their cars, a "quiet" car with a squealing problem which made every start and stop of the train pretty unbearable. Today I received a reply: "Dear Iain, Thank you for writing. Our Director of Equipment and Services had a mechanic ride the train to listen for the noise. They determined it to be an issue with a brake shoe. The noise should now be resolved. If you have any further questions or notice any other issues, please let us know. Thank you for riding VRE." Now that is service! read more

Awesome, simply awesome. No better way to get into Washington, DC. 1000% better than driving and 800% than metro. Some of the best features: you actually arrive at your destination in a reasonable amount of time, relevantly no hassle and the lack of the requisite crazies on the metro - or 66 for that matter. The ticket cost from my usual Manassas stop to Union Station is around $8.00 per trip or near $234 a month, which is well worth the cost. The stations are kind of convenient if you live within a 15 mile radius or so of interstate 66, although the threat of the Manassas "i'm-going-to-drive-20-in-a-35" crowd is a hindrance when you have 7 mins before the train arrives. read more

I am sad to say in over 18 years they have not improved neither the people who are running the train or the people who sit in the office or their policies. The conductors spend more time talking to their special friends than making sure they announce which cars will not open on the station platforms or even checking tickets. The prices keep going up and they holding sham meetings every time they propose a ticket hike but their president keeps getting a 6 figure salary. They purchase new engines a while back and now they are breaking down because of poor maintenance interesting where is the money going? If I had an alternative I would take it but sadly they are like a rock and a hard place. Oh yeah don't forget to use your tickets up before they expire they won't exchange them for new ones they will just pocket the money! read more

Not reliable anymore for commuting. There is only so many times you can wait an extra 40 minutes to get to work or get home.

VRE has had it share of problems but I recently had a very positive experience. I downloaded their new mobile app to my IPhone 6. I received some alerts that as Apple updates their OS it may affect the functionality of the VRE app. Sure enough after the last update my VRE app was gone. Needless to say I was concerned as I had tickets on my account. I contacted the VRE tech support and within a day I had the app reinstalled and my tickets back. Thank you VRE. I appreciate the support from your mobile app team. read more

About 3 years ago, I used to ride the VRE religiously in to Crystal City every day. I used to love the service and the most of the conductors on the train were very courteous and polite, except for one. Just recently, I got a new job in Alexandria, so I had to choose how to get to work. The option was to drive, pay the parking fee at work, or choose VRE. After looking at the costs, and comparing what I would spend on gas, and then checking against what it would cost to ride VRE, I chose to drive. Don't get me wrong. For most the VRE option is great, but I have a hybrid Toyota Prius and I am very independent person, anyway. Plus, I remember several things like if you get on the train at Alexandria, good luck getting a seat when heading home. I also remember the mad rush at Broad Run station because everyone would literally run to get to their cars so they could get out first. I hate being treated like a cow. The advantages are at least when you are on the train, you can do work or just nap. My biggest complaint is that the costs of the fares has gotten so abusive, it just does not make sense to take the VRE anymore for now. Maybe they can lower the costs, but they have to pay for the cars somehow, and the state budget shortfalls have not helped. read more

It has taken me 5 years and 7 months to write this. The VRE does not care about people just about the amount of money they can get. My children rode the train to DC for school daily. In the time they were going on the train the price kept increasing in 3 years there were 7 increases including taking the student discount. In order to get this you had to go into an area to go to a VRE store which was away from the trip they took. Once they finished with College my daughter took the train to Fairfax from Manassas for work. At the Burke station there is no safety areas for walking. The only way to get around is to cross a unlit bridge and in the winter you would have to walk in the road. The road used to go through the area and the neighbor hood used that area to cross the tracks. On a foggy morning my daughter was crossing the tracks to go to work and was hit and killed. After trying to get some satisfaction from the company they basically blamed everything on her. She had been doing this for more than a year and the law is that if the train company knows there are people that cross in the area they are supposed to slow down through the station. There has been nothing done and more than 12 children have been killed on this track. They had a plan to put a walk way above the tracks but opted to add to the parking garage. They will continue to get away with not caring as long as everyone uses them and pay the increase they do more than twice a year. I can only say I will never ride the VRE and will advise anyone asking not to do it. read more

I was waiting with my son @ the Rolling Road VRE station for the 3:08 pm train. I bought him a ticket, 1 RIDE-FULL. He was going to Union Station to catch a train to Baltimore, MD. I was standing on the platform, about 5-6 feet from the rails. My son was sitting on a bench gathering his belongings. A train approached going @ a high speed. The train passed the station without slowing down. The time was 3:22 pm. My son called a phone number to complain. The women that answered, put my son on hold. When she came back on line she said, That the train operator stated, he had stopped at the Rolling Road station. Which was not true. read more

VRE is a great way to get to work; however, it fails on other important issues. I recently moved to an area near VRE, brand new, not fully familiar with it, and was going through an extremely stressful time when I was handed a summon. I honestly though the pass I got was for a "Full Day", had I known I would had validated a "Free Ride" ticket I had gotten earlier. In any event, with all the stress, I totally forgot about it, then a few days ago I got a court notice denoting that my driving license has been suspended. Not only was it suspended, but the date it was suspended and the date the notice was received was almost 15 days late. So there I was driving with no knowledge whatsoever that my license was suspended. I did not received, one notice, not one prior to that notice telling me or even reminding me of such summon. I have three recommendations for VRE - incorporate a Full Day pass that does not require validation once validated - before having someones driving privileges suspended, send a written notice. Some of us have valid reasons - such extreme actions should target repeating offenders, not first time offenders As a single parent, this could have been disastrous. If I was to be stopped for any reason, I would have been taken to jail, had my kid taken away, and possibly lost my job. The actions taken are simply unacceptable. This was my first offense ever, the action taken is extreme. read more

The VRE service is only good if you live within a 15minute radius to the train station. If you're outside this radius, this service does you no good. However, it's a great alternative other than Metro & Buses. Also, they need more trains running throughout the day and weekend service offered. It needs to be more like Maryland's MARC train in summary. It's not so bad, but "could" be better though. read more