From the signals, crossovers and junction at Virginia Avenue Tower (CP Virginia, MP 136.7 on Conrail), where the double track combined routes (now owned by CSX, after more than two decades of Conrail ownership), with supports for the erstwhile PRR catenary from the erstwhile Potomac Yard, split into the double track heading just east of due north to Washington Union Terminal and the CSX (ex-B&O) and NS (ex-Conrail, ex-PRR) freight lines heading east, single track, maximum speed 10 mph, from MP 136.1 to MP 135.4, past M Street (MP 135.5), where the line to Jersey yard heads away southeast, becoming double track, current-of-traffic (Rule 251), maximum speed 30 mph, past a tunnel, Anacostia, the Anacostia movable bridge, over the Anacostia River (maximum speed 20 mph), and the junction with the CSX Capital Subdivision, Alexandria extension, heading away northeast (on the east side) at "Anacostia" (MP 134.2), where the line turns north, with an extra track on the east side.
The line, now NS-owned, passes Benning Yard (MP 133.5), on the west side, a crossover at Deanwood (MP 132.4), where the yard ends, turning north-northeast and bridging over the CSX Alexandria line, past a detector on Track 1 at MP 131.5, a detector on Track 2 at MP 131.2, the border between the District of Columbia and Maryland (MP 131.1), and crossovers at Russell (MP 130.7), and turning east-northeast at MP 130.0, where the maximum speed rises to 50 mph for passenger trains and 40 mph for freight trains, to the end of the track on the east side and the junction with the east side of the Northeast Corridor at Landover (MP `128.8).