Via the Examiner, it looks like Virginia Railway Express will start offering a weekday a.m. express train from Fredericksburg to Union Station in July. The faster route would save commuters about 20 minutes each way. VRE is still developing plans to make several service changes once its new storage track at L'Enfant Plaza is operational. The planned express train will only carry four train cars, and will be stored at the existing storage track at Union Station. Other trains will terminate and be stored at L'Enfant starting in July. more ›

Two suburban Metrobus lines will begin charging express fares this Sunday, June 28. In Montgomery County, the J7/J9 I-270 Express line will see the fare increase, while in Prince George’s County, the W19 Indian Head Express line will also be affected. Starting June 28, the two express lines will cost $3 with a SmarTrip card or $3.10 with cash. In other Metro money news, WMATA is expected, at long last, to pass its $2.14 billion budget on Thursday. more ›

On Monday Express re-launched its web site, dubbing it anew as ExpressNightOut, which will focus exclusively on D.C. area arts and events coverage. The old Read Express url now points to the new site. The Express folks also put up a post formally announcing the end of Free Ride, the local news-focused blog that had been dying a slow, painful death since the departure of former DCist editor and Free Ride founder Mike Grass, who went to work for Observer start-up Politicker, a few months back. Many times since then saw Free Ride with only one or two posts up per day, so word that it's officially dead comes as no big surprise. more ›