Amtrak – BWI Rail Station

After a long journey of rescheduling of the travel plans, I knew Amtrak would be the last leg. & even at 8pm, you still want to be able to be addressed & assisted with some sort of professionalism.
But hey, I guess as long as you get a dry hello, it’s better than nothing.
The station is extremely dilapidated & could use a good renovation, especially the restrooms. It makes no sense that while you are waiting for the train, you have to endure the unpleasant smells coming from the restrooms.
The small corner contraption of a Newsstand was closed & caged off like a store sitting in the cut of the ghetto. Take the fence down. More importantly, for the evening traveling passengers, it should be open, regardless of the Café Car.
I appreciate the free shuttle bus from BWI, as I’ve been in worse rail stations. Yet, the Amtrak is next to a high traffic airport, it could be a little better in appearance & customer service.

Could be a lot worse but I have seen much better. Dowdy, basically clean but age or disrepair is showing. Constant safety video is annoying. Lacks power outlets unless you stand under the announcement board. Good area for picking up arrivals. Good bus connection to terminals, but you have to transfer to the rental car bus. Sandwiches are $ 8-​$ 9.

The Amtrak stations tend to be rundown, but this is the worst one I have ever been inside. Here are some insights:
–The MARC is a really reasonable price to commute.
–The trains run so infrequently on the weekends. I was trying to catch a train to Baltimore’s Penn Station and would have had to wait 2+ hours for an Amtrak or a MARC train. This is not an efficient way to get from BWI to anywhere.
–There is a free shuttle service from BWI to the Amtrak station
–Some of the attendants are more helpful than others. One was kind enough to call a fantastic cab driver for me when I decided that the trains were worthless. The others were pretty worthless.
–There are no amenities. The station is crazy old, and I don’t even know if there was a bathroom. Vending machines are your only food options, and there are only 15 – 20 seats in the whole place? Not enough.

Always very consistent and the staff are very friendly to me. Parking is easy and the access ok Telegraph road is convenient. Southbound arrival is kind of a pain with the steps over the tracks but what other options are there for them.

Bottom Line: A no-​frills train station that serves its purpose but has seen better days.
This train station is busier than I anticipated and actively serves three types of trains:
–MARC train commuter train between DC and Baltimore
–Amtrak Northeast Regional trains
–Amtrak high speed Acela line
Here are the highlights and lowlights of this station, in my opinion:
–There a shuttle service between this train station and the nearby Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport.
–This station has plenty of parking in the form of two garages but you do have to pay for parking. Parking is around $ 10 per day but commuters can get a monthly pass.
–For those commuting into DC from Baltimore, the MARC is a relaxing option
–Overall the station is small which makes it efficient. From the time you park, you can get to the platform rather quickly.
–Three tracks comes through here, two of which are adjacent to the platform for boarding. To get to the southbound track, take the elevator or stairs up to walk across the breezeway over the tracks and then back down the elevator or stairs.
–The amenities here are lacking, to say the least. There is some seating inside and a few vending machines. This isn’t a place where you want to spend a lot of time at, but it does serve the purpose when you are coming or going on MARC or Amtrak.

I always use this station to depart to Wilmington de the ticket agents are nice and helpful but the station its self need to be rebuild the stairs smells like urine and the waiting area is so small and crammed up

I have active used this station for 10 years and the only updates made were the addition of an elevator on either side. This station is screaming for a renovation. The first renovation being the doors to enter the facility. Everyone who rides has at least one bag. The doors are neither automatic nor are handicap equipped. Someone needs to donate 10−20k for them to push out the doors so there is a doorway mini vestibule. This will also assist in maintaining the station’s temp. Both sets of doors should have an automatic option. I’m honestly surprised that a building inspector hasn’t come to mandate it.
Next, why must business class riders wait with no awning or seating. The seating on the outside is very much limited and only available where the reserved cars are.
Also, given the horrific derailment that occurred two weeks ago, more funds need to be applied for safety measures. Amtrak makes a lot of money and for them to not maintenance or install safety mechanisms in their equipment. It’s deplorable. If the FAA governs the airlines, who governs the rails? Especially a rail company with a monopoly? We are literally sitting ducks to another potential detrimental occurrence because the funds are inappropriately allocated.
If you are gonna based your business on transportation, safety, at all times, should be your #1 concern. Clearly, it’s not. Money is. Do better Amtrak. #DropsMic

I am shocked and appalled at the customer service that I was just exposed to. Here’s the situation:
Plane accident on LGA runway and snow caused lots of flight cancellations into NYC. Hundreds of people stuck in Chicago get rerouted to Baltimore and left with no option but to take the 3:30am train. They arrive to the airport and at midnight take the shuttle to the BWI airport Amtrak station and dropped off. There they find the doors locked and a man (a passenger that had been sleeping on a bench) had awoken to find himself locked inside of the train station!
So you have 30 people locked outside and 1 man locked inside. I call the Amtrak 800 number. The gentleman tells me that there is no way to reach the station attendant and that if the man is in distress that he should call 911. And no, he couldn’t call for us. Or do anything to help. Or act like he gave a crap.
Just call 911. No «oh my goodness, that’s so terrible» no apology… nothing except indifference. I ask for a supervisor. She does eventually get in touch with Amtrak police to go break the man out but is unapologetic about the 30 people locked outside in 17* weather!!!
It does not state ANYWHERE that the station isn’t open until 30min prior to the train. And if that’s the case, why is the shuttle running!?! I told her that her attitude about all of this was awful. That she should learn that customer service is about at least ACTING like you care. I mean fake it for goodness sakes! She said she was sorry I felt that way, but said with the same indifference I got from the 1^st guy!
Yet Amtrak complains about empty trains and poor ridership. Gee… I wonder why. I have looked on the website. On the ticket. Everywhere and there is nothing stating what to do if you are taking a 3:30am train. There have been this evening (between midnight and 2 am) probably 60+ people shuttled to a locked station to be left to wait 25 minutes for the shuttle to come back and get them. The worst part is the unapologetic cavalier attitude.
One of the stranded people in this group is meeting with Secretary Fox next week. She can’t wait to share her experience of what total inhumane unconscionable attitude Amtrak takes to its customers. Really disgraceful!

Horrible train station if you are picking up a passenger. Absolutely no parking to wait to pick somebody up who is disembarking the train. I found a place to park on a curb along the road and had a cabbie scream at me that it was cab parking only. He kept pointing to a sign that said «Chesapeake watershed keep out» on the fence. I told him to go read the sign. That the sign doesn’t say anything about cab parking. He left me alone after I pointed out my dash cam and that I would be sending a copy to his cab company.

Amtrak stops twice in Baltimore: Penn Station and BWI. This is the second stop: BWI.
The Amtrak waiting room is depressing and the ticket counter service is downright bad. My advice is to avoid this area and these people as best you can. Get your ticket online and talk to no one at this station.
If you’re headed to BWI, there is a free shuttle bus across the street. Just bypass the noisy cab drivers, stand by the parking garage and wait for the bus.

You would think that the person in the ticket booth would be aware of the cars on the train.
We asked where the café coach is. She said to the left, very back of the train. So, we walked on to the platform to the left so that we could get a seat in the café care.
Opposite! The café car was to the very right/​front of the train.
If you can’t trust the workers to provide the correct information, whom can you trust?

Two things to note:
1. The station isn’t actually at the airport; it’s in the woods 10 minutes away. There’s a free shuttle from Baggage Claim, but be advised that it will take some time to get over there, and you shouldn’t cut it too close.
2. If you’re using the Southbound platform (arriving from Baltimore, or departing to DC), you need to use the bridge over the platform. To get to that bridge you need to climb a long set of stairs on each end, or else use the extremely slow elevators. This isn’t ideal if you have luggage.
Otherwise, the station serves a useful purpose when flying through BWI. It’s an easy $ 6, 40 minute trip into DC on the MARC train. But I wish they’d build ramps, or more/​faster elevators, or otherwise make the station easier for folks with luggage.

I like that this train station is close to BWI airport and the free shuttle that they offer. I used this station on a holiday and on a weekend so it was not crowded at all. The garage parking at a decent daily rate (and really close to the tracks) is a big plus.

Ummm this is like the smallest train station ever. Small run down and dirty like. Note to first time train travelers, if you have your ticket printed out don’t even bother coming here more than 10 minutes before your train. Apparently the Baltimore CITY station is much bigger and nicer, this one is pretty equivalent to a greyhound dump.

Want to take a trip to Sudan to experience the culture? Save yourself the airfare and hang out at the Amtrak station at BWI. This place is small, hot and crammed up with all sorts of humanity. Picture a small, crowded Noah’s ark and then imagine what that smells like and the noises you would hear. This is that, you are sitting in a variety pack of humans which are one step up from carrying chickens in baskets. There is no restaurant here, there is no bar. There are 35 old chairs and two water fountains. People were unplugging the water fountains to charge their phones. The Amtrak clerks are behind a thick plexi-​glass, which is a clear indicator that even they want a barrier between them and the animals in the waiting area.

Conveniently located by the airport, parking garage directly across from the tracks at $ 9/​day, little convenience store inside ticketing terminal to fuel up before the trip.
I use this station weekly to travel to New York Penn Station.

This is a very small station that serves as your waiting point from the BWI shuttle bus to the Amtrak/​MARC trains. There isn’t a lot of seating and it could use some renovation but when it’s freezing outside this place seems like heaven compared to waiting for the train in the cold. They have a few vending machines and also a small snack area but the snack bar was closed late Saturday night when I was there. There is an attendant there in case you have any questions or you can buy your tickets at the kiosk via a credit card. Amtrak from DC to BWI isn’t too bad and I’d do it again if the price were right on a flight from BWI.

***This was my first ever trip on an Amtrak train; this station is incredibly small, which means that it is very easy catching a train (small crowds and not much distance from where you purchase tickets to the tracks); there is nothing to do so you need to eat beforehand; tickets out of here to destinations in neighboring states like New York are expensive, but trains run frequently so this is a quick and convenient way to get to New York; though this is the BWI station, this Amtrak is not directly attached to BWI, but you can take a free shuttle to get to and from the airport***
I think there are parking lots available, but I do not know who much they charge.

Great location for a BWI Airport transfer point. But the cost of a train ticket with Amtrak it a bit high. Marc Train ticket are the best price from Washington, DC to BWI and on to Baltimore MD.
Here my review.
Train station is small. seat in the station is were you reather use to seat on thee bridge. Snack shop is open during the day and weekend limited service.
Taxi serive great and very helpful in telling on your next train coming and late ariivals. Great bargens in cab service to your door from station to your home between station and Washington, DC. But must have two other for price to go down.
Station service great hand helpful in get wheel chair passonger on time and in train before departer. Need remodeling but there patform upgraded. But when Amtrak Acela go thou station better stand back it going 100 plus miles in speed.
If I going in the location of this station on the week days I wood take metro bus to this area. But on the weekends I wood think on taking the train. Plus local Hotels has shuttle bus service to this station. On this alone I give it a five station.
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Choo Choo!
Not bad for a train station. Having a train station that services both MARC and Amtrak is very convenient. The station itself is ok, its a little old and the smells can be pretty nasty at first. But overall I use it almost everyday to get into DC. For first time travelers this stop is a good one since they have an info. desk in the lobby/​waiting room and most of the time they will answer all your questions and sell you tickets as well.
The station is über close to the airport as well and the bus stations are not even 50 yds from the lobby. Note: there are TWO bus stops if the first one (closer to the lobby) is crowed walk to the other end and get on the bus first haha. Also the seats on the MARC not bad, enough room to sit and if you need to you can pop open a laptop. Also, there is onsite covered parking for $ 9 dollars a day, pricey but better than parking in DC!
BWI rail station isnt the best but its not that bad and all the doors open at this station so you do not have to run up and down the train haha.
So all aboard and make sure you don’t sleep past your stop!