The last segment of rail was laid for the Maryland Transit Administration’s Purple Line light rail system on Thursday.
While the last of the rail has been laid, construction work is ongoing to finish up the Purple Line’s infrastructure and stations. The Maryland Transit Administration said Thursday it expects the Purple Line to open for passengers in late 2027.
Construction on the Purple Line has been ongoing since 2017. The project has been subject to cost overruns and delays.
Initially, it was projected to cost $5.6 billion and open in 2022, but by the time it’s completed, it will have cost more than $9 billion, according to The Banner.
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who was on the scene at the future 16th Street-Woodside Station to help lay the final bit of rail, said “our people have one very simple question … ’are you going to do what you say you’re going to do?’ People in Montgomery County have been asking that question about the Purple Line for over a decade, and today, we are delivering.”
The Purple Line will run for 16.2 miles across Montgomery County, which will have 10 stations, and Prince George’s County, which will have 11 stations. It starts in Bethesda and ends in New Carrollton.
The system also offers links to other area transit systems. Along with buses, these links include connections to:
— the Metrorail Red line at Bethesda and Silver Spring.
— the Metrorail Green line at College Park.
— the Metrorail Orange line at New Carrollton.
— Maryland Area Rail Commuter rail stations in College Park, New Carrollton and Silver Spring.
— Amtrak at New Carrollton.
Unlike Metrorail, the Purple Line is light rail that uses an overhead power system and which has tracks that run on roadways which cars, other vehicles and pedestrians can cross. Metrorail, by comparison, has separate infrastructure with an exclusive right-of-way.
