Silver Spring Station - DC Metro
Red Line - station in Silver Spring, MD.
About Silver Spring station
Silver Spring is the busiest Metro station in Montgomery County, and it feels like it. The Red Line platform sits beside the MARC Brunswick Line tracks and the county’s main transit center, so on a weekday morning you get commuter rail passengers, bus riders and Metro riders funneling through the same block of Colesville Road. Downtown Silver Spring grew up around this station, and it shows: office towers, a movie theater, a concert hall and a pedestrianized retail street all sit within a few minutes’ walk. For anyone traveling in from Maryland, this is one of the easiest transfer points in the system, and for anyone in the District it is the natural place to get off for dinner or a film without leaving the Red Line.
The area around Silver Spring
Downtown Silver Spring is an inner suburb that reads more like a small city center — dense, walkable and unusually diverse, with Ethiopian, Salvadoran, Vietnamese and Caribbean restaurants along Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street. It draws commuters into DC by day and a steady evening crowd from across Montgomery County for the theaters, restaurants and the plaza on Ellsworth Drive.
What is near Silver Spring station?
The American Film Institute's repertory cinema, built around a restored 1938 art deco movie house on Colesville Road.
5 min walkMid-size concert venue booking touring rock, hip-hop and comedy acts a couple of blocks from the station.
5 min walkPedestrian retail and restaurant blocks around Ellsworth Drive, with a public plaza that hosts events and a seasonal ice rink.
5 min walkCounty-run event and gallery space on Veterans Plaza, the main public square of downtown Silver Spring.
6 min walkFirst and last trains at Silver Spring
Departure times by direction. Which way you are traveling matters – the last train toward one terminal can be an hour before the last train the other way.
| Day | Toward | First | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon-Thu | Glenmont | 5:42 am | 12:30 am |
| Mon-Thu | Shady Grove | 5:09 am | 11:45 pm |
| Fri | Glenmont | 5:42 am | 2:30 am |
| Fri | Shady Grove | 5:09 am | 1:45 am |
| Sat | Glenmont | 6:31 am | 2:30 am |
| Sat | Shady Grove | 6:09 am | 1:45 am |
| Sun | Glenmont | 6:31 am | 12:30 am |
| Sun | Shady Grove | 6:09 am | 11:45 pm |
Travel times and fares from Silver Spring
| To | Time | Weekday to 9:30pm | Late night & weekend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Center | 21 min | $4.30 | $2.50 |
| Gallery Pl-Chinatown | 19 min | $4.25 | $2.50 |
| L'Enfant Plaza | 27 min | $4.65 | $2.50 |
| Union Station | 15 min | $4.05 | $2.50 |
| Smithsonian | 29 min | $4.60 | $2.50 |
| Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport | 37 min | $6.10 | $2.50 |
| Washington Dulles International Airport | 79 min | $6.75 | $2.50 |
| Pentagon | 32 min | $5.45 | $2.50 |
| Shady Grove | 57 min | $6.75 | $2.50 |
| Glenmont | 10 min | $3.15 | $2.50 |
Travel times and fares published by WMATA. Fares valid July 2026.
Changing lines at Silver Spring
Silver Spring is served by the Red Line only.
Parking at Silver Spring
Tips for using Silver Spring
- The MARC Brunswick Line platform is right beside the Metro station, which makes this the easiest place to switch between commuter rail and Metro on the Maryland side.
- The Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center next to the station handles Metrobus, Ride On and regional coaches, so check which level your bus departs from before you go up.
- Downtown Silver Spring is compact — almost everything worth walking to is within about five minutes of the fare gates.
Silver Spring station FAQ
Yes. The MARC Brunswick Line station sits directly alongside the Metro station, and the two share the same transit center block. It is one of the more convenient rail-to-rail connections in the region, though MARC runs on a commuter schedule rather than all day.
No. The Red Line continues north from here through Forest Glen and Wheaton to Glenmont, which is the northeastern terminus. Silver Spring is simply the busiest station on that stretch.
It is on Colesville Road, roughly five minutes on foot from the station exits. The Fillmore concert venue is about the same distance in a similar direction, which makes the station a practical arrival point for an evening out.
There is no Metro park-and-ride lot here in the way suburban stations have one. Downtown Silver Spring has public and private garages nearby, but this station is designed around bus, rail and pedestrian access rather than driving.