WTOP points out new rates have gone into effect for Virginia Railway Express. You can look at the full new rate plan here, but the bottom line is that nearly every fare for single trips went up about 3 percent today. And in an update to a story we linked to late last month, a VRE spokesperson got in touch with us to clarify that while ridership on the commuter rail system has indeed gone up over 11 percent compared to this time last year, the reason stops were skipped on June 6 was because a freight train broke down outside of Leeland, and one train skipped 2 stations to allow all trains to get back on schedule for the morning commute. People standing at the platform at the missed stops were picked up by a subsequent train shortly afterward.