BWI Marshall Rail Station

Stop here to pick up your tickets to get to Washington by rail. There are staffed ticket booths and also automated machines. A small coffee shop with drinks and snacks. However, this is not the place to go to catch the light rail to Baltimore. Oops.

I take the train to/​from DC here everyday. There is a waiting room which is nice, you can buy your tickets there at the desk or at a machine and there are toilets and a kiosk with snacks, coffee and magazines (newspapers are closer to the parking garages which are covered.) The taxis can be annoying and barker-​like as they offer $ 8.00 per person rides to the airport which may or may not be legal, but most people take the free shuttle which comes often and is free — it stops at all the terminals. The Marc train and the Amrtak get off here. Watch out with big bags on Marc because there is not a lot of room for bags and us commuters are a snarly bunch. Going at non-​rush hour times might help, the price is less than half of that of the Amrtrak and the trains almost as fast (especially if express like the 4:20pm). If you are catching a plane at BWI and taking the train, this is where you will be moving through. Fun fact: this is the first rail to airport station!

Shuttle to BWI Terminals runs pretty regularly, there’s a clean bathroom and snack bar in the waiting room, it’s well lit, and there are cabs always standing by. I don’t like schlepping up and down the stairs with my bag to cross the tracks, but I do need the exercise — or there’s the elevator.
Beats Penn Station in Baltimore if only because you can get a rental car here.