Maryland Purple Line light rail moves to testing

The Purple Line light rail is an orbital 16-mile (25.6km) 21-stop line that will link Bethesda and New Carrollton, Maryland suburbs just north of Washington DC. It will provide interchange with Washington Metro’s radial lines at four points, linking the outer ends of the Rd, Green and Orange lines. In May 2026 the last rails were laid to complete the basic infrastructure and 90% of the construction work, enabling the 28 43.3m (142ft) CAF-built low-floor LRVs to start test running outside the Operations & maintenance facility. 

 

The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) studied a range of alignments and transit modes in 2002-2008 with a draft environmental impact study completed, focussed on the closed Georgetown Branch rail line that has been repurposed as the Capital Crescent trail. The project met heavy resistance from cyclists, hikers, residents of the wealthy community of Chevy Chase and members of the Columbia Country Club adjacent to the old rail alignment. Legal attempts to thwart construction were unsuccessful, with the US Court of Appeals ruling in favour of the MTA. Light rail was selected as the transit mode in 2009 and in 2013 it was decided to go ahead on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The Federal Transit Administration approved the project in 2014. In 2016 a Fluor Enterprises led consortium won the USD 5.6bn PPP contract to design and build the line, then operate and maintain it for 36 years. In September 2020 the consortium withdrew from the contract and a new contract was not signed until April 2022. Dragados/OHL trading as Maryland Transit Solutions took over the partly completed project with an additional USD 250M on the budget. 

 

The last of the 431-passenger (80 seated) cars arrived in November 2025 from the CAF assembly plant at Elmira, NY. Testing started in the Operations & Maintenance facility along Veterans Parkway in Glenridge. MTA is planning a full alignment approach for the launch of the line with a seven-minute peak service (10-15 minutes off-peak) by the end of 2027.