 Culpeper, VA | Crescent | Alexandria, VA  |
| Cardinal | ||
| Amtrak Virginia: Northeast Regional | Burke Centre, VA |
Manassas is the one station on the Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line that has received continuous long-distance train service. This was from first the Southern Railway (that originally elected not to join Amtrak) until 1979, when the final train it operated, the Crescent was transferred to Amtrak, although Amtrak did also provide service to Manassas along with the Southern Railway from the Cardinal that entered service in 1977 (renamed from the James Whitcomb Riley, which bypasses Manassas in the early 1970s) and the Cardinal continues to stop at Manassas to this day. Commuter Rail Service began on June 22, 1992 with the start of the Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line. The station receives service from all Manassas Line trains, including reverse-peak trains that skip most of the stops between here and Alexandria.
Amtrak, under contract with the state of Virginia, extended one Northeast Regional train to Lynchburg on October 1, 2009, stopping at Manassas. This train extended to Roanoke on October 31, 2017. A second daily Washington, DC and points north to Roanoke round-trip was added on July 11, 2022. This additional train allows passengers from Manassas to make day-trips to both Washington, DC and points north, along with Roanoke and all stations in-between.
The historic 1914-built downtown station a bit of a mess for boarding passengers. It still contains original, primarily ground-level platforms, VRE trains automated announcements tell passengers that there is a big step to get off the train and to detain where the conductor is to have access to a step box. The station is also located at street level with trains blocking multiple streets and some of the automatic doors of VRE's gallery train cars opening directly in the middle of grade-crossings.
The station contains two through tracks, with abandoned sidings for a third and forth track ending just across from the main depot. Most trains stop along the southern track. This track's platform is fairly long and runs for two city blocks, from the grade-crossing of West Street, through the grade-crossing of Battle Street and ends at the grade-crossing of Main Street.
The two sections of this main platform for the southern track feels very different. The western half of the platform is alongside the historic 1914 depot, between West and Balttle Streets. This historic depot contains a Spanish tiled roof and red walls. It was restored by the City of Manassas in the 1990s and contains a visitor center. A canopy structure, held up by wooden columns extends out to the platform (with a tactile warning stip) just outside the depot. Inside is a simple wood paneled waiting room with water fountains, restrooms, and a VRE is the train on time GPS map and information display. There are no benches inside this small waiting room that was closed in the evening (when there are no VRE trains other than to Broad Run Airport, but three Amtrak trains). This platform leads back to a small parking lot. There are few tiny Manassas signs on the sides of this canopy structure.
The other half of this platform, between Battle and Main Streets is more modern. It is a proper slightly higher low-level height. It contains a modern VRE-style green canopy structure that covers about one car. This is also where the main VRE TVMs are found. It also contains a very 1990s VRE-style sign with both Amtrak pointless arrow and VRE logos on each side of the Manassas sign. Behind this platform is four story parking garage dedicated on June 26, 2008 by Virginia Railway Express and the City of Manassas. This mixed-use parking garage provides parking to both railroad commuters (permit required) and shoppers visiting the historic downtown on evenings and weekends with unrestricted parking.
Trains can also stop along (but this is generally avoided) the northern platform 2. This track has a very simple platform that can only accommodate two train cars. This platform is completely offset from the other platform and depot, with a single entrance at its eastern end just beyond the grade-crossing with West Street. This platform contains a small VRE-style canopy structure. Behind this platform is the Harris Pavilion inside a plaza. This plaza contains (just behind this platform) three historic freight cars. One is a Red caboose, Southern X699, the next is a flat car that you can go up some steps onto to get a better view inside the caboose. This has cut-out letters that read Love & Hope. There is finally a box car that has been restored with Southern Moves the South in large white lettering on the brown-painted car.
Photos 1-98: September 6, 2024;
