A COMMERCIAL RATED PLT FLYING A PA31T AT DCA FAILED TO HOLD SHORT OF ACTIVE RWY AS INSTRUCTED BY ATC.

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IT WAS APPROX XX00 EDT AT DCA; WITH AN INTENSE LEVEL OF TFC. 3 RWYS WERE IN SIMULTANEOUS USE (RWYS 36;33; AND 3). WE HAD PICKED UP THE ATIS AND OUR IFR CLRNC AND TAXIED VIA TXWY F TO THE 'BLOCK' AT RWY 33; WHERE WE WERE #3 BEHIND A GULFSTREAM WHICH WAS PARKED ON THE TXWY AT THE HOLD SHORT LINE AND WITH A CONQUEST II IN THE RUN-UP AREA ADJACENT TO THE TXWY. TWR CALLED AN TOLD US TO DO A 180 DEG; TAXI TO RWY 3; TAXI DOWN RWY 3 AND TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 33; EXPLAINING THAT THE OTHER 2 ACFT AHEAD OF US 'CAN'T GO' AND THAT HE WAS GOING TO HAVE US BACK-TAXI TO THE DEP END OF RWY 33 FOR DEP. WE READ BACK THE CLRNC. BEFORE MOVING; I CAREFULLY REVIEWED THE CLRNC. WE DID THE 180 DEG; APCHED THE INTXN OF RWY 3; STOPPED AND LOOKED CAREFULLY TOWARD THE APCH END OF THE RWY FOR APCHING TFC. SEEING NONE; WE PULLED ONTO RWY 3 AND TURNED R TOWARD ITS INTXN WITH RWY 33. TO ASSURE WE WERE AS HIGHLY VISIBLE AS POSSIBLE; WE TAXIED ON OR NEAR THE CTR OF THE RWY. AS WE APCHED RWY 33; I WAS UNCERTAIN HOW CLOSELY TO APCH THE INTXN WITH RWY 33. I HAD SEEN NO HOLD SHORT LINE ON RWY 3 ITSELF. I PULLED TO THE R EDGE OF RWY 3 AND STOPPED; SHORT OF RWY 33; AWAITING FURTHER CLRNC. LOOKING TO THE APCH END OF RWY 33; I SAW A CITATION ON FINAL. A FEW MOMENTS AFTER WE STOPPED; THE TWR CTLR ISSUED AN INSTRUCTION TO STOP. HE THEN INSTRUCTED THE CITATION ON FINAL TO GO AROUND. HE THEN INSTRUCTED US TO DO A 180 DEG AND RETURN TO 'THE BLOCK' ON THE TXWY AT RWY 33 SAYING 'WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO THE BACK-TAXI.' SURPRISED BY THE TONE OF HIS ABRUPT INSTRUCTION TO STOP; I ACKNOWLEDGED THE NEW INSTRUCTIONS AND COMMENTED THAT WE HAD BEEN STOPPED; HOLDING SHORT. HE REPLIED 'NO YOU WERE NOT.' ON BACK-TAXIING ON RWY 3 TO TXWY F FOR A L TURN BACK TO THE BLOCK AT RWY 33; WE WERE NEAR THE L EDGE OF THE RWY. AFTER TAXIING PERHAPS 50-75 YARDS FROM THE INTXN OF RWY 33; WE SAW AND PASSED OVER A YELLOW HOLD SHORT LINE WHICH WE HAD NOT SEEN WHILE TAXIING IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. WE HAD; CLRLY; TAXIED BEYOND THAT HOLD SHORT POINT TOWARD RWY 33. WHEN ORIGINALLY TAXIING ON RWY 3 TOWARD RWY 33; I NEVER SAW THE HOLD SHORT LINE; DESPITE BEING SUPER-VIGILANT DUE TO OUR UNFAMILIARITY WITH DCA AND THE HIGH LEVEL OF ACTIVITY. IN FACT; THE YELLOW HOLD SHORT LINE MAY BE PARTIALLY OBSCURED AT THE RWY CTR; BLOCKED BY TIRE MARKS ON THE RWY. IN ANY EVENT; WHILE CLRLY STOPPING SHORT OF RWY 33; WE DID ENCROACH BEYOND THE HOLD SHORT LINE. FIRST; WE HAVE ONLY OCCASIONALLY OPERATED AT DCA AND HAVE LIMITED FAMILIARITY. BUT THAT VERY UNFAMILIARITY MADE ME ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AND VIGILANT DURING EVERY PART OF THE OP FROM START-UP ON. I PRE-BRIEFED EVERYTHING; FULLY RAN EVERY CHKLIST; WROTE DOWN EVERY TAXI CLRNC AND CHKED THEM ON THE ARPT DIAGRAM BEFORE MOVING; ETC. I ACTUALLY THINK THE LOW EXPERIENCE AT DCA MADE ME MORE CAREFUL THAN I MIGHT OTHERWISE BE. I HAD A PAX IN THE R COCKPIT SEAT AND HAD HER REMAIN QUIET DURING GND OPS; PARTICULARLY WHEN THE ACFT WAS MOVING; SO I WOULD NOT BE DISTRACTED. WE DID; HOWEVER; HAVE SOME CONVERSATION DURING THE VARIOUS WAITS AND TAXI HOLDS; INCLUDING THE ONE IN THE BLOCK AT RWY 33. I WAS RESTED; THOUGH I HAD CONDUCTED A FULL DAY OF BUSINESS. THE WX WAS EXCELLENT. EVERYTHING ON THE ACFT WAS OPERATING PROPERLY. THERE WERE NO SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES TO CAUSE STRESS OR ANXIETY. I WAS CURRENT IN THE ACFT AND HAD JUST COMPLETED FLT SAFETY RECURRENT TRAINING THE PREVIOUS WK. IN SHORT; I CANNOT POINT TO ANY SPECIAL DISTRACTIONS; STRESS FACTORS OR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO MY NOT SEEING THE HOLD SHORT LINE. I JUST MISSED IT. I WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE CONDITION OF THE HOLD SHORT STRIPING ON RWY 3 NEAR THE INTXN OF RWY 33 BE CHKED TO CONFIRM IT EXTENDS FULLY ACROSS THE RWY AND THAT THE 'YELLOW' IS REASONABLY BRIGHT AND DISTINCTIVE. IT WAS A BRIGHT; HAZY AFTERNOON AND I WAS USING GREY 15 SUNGLASSES AND WHEN I DID SEE THE LINE WHILE BACK-TAXIING RWY 3; IT SEEMED SUBDUED.