The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line that will extend from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George's County. It will provide a direct connection to the Metrorail Red, Green and Orange Lines; at Bethesda, Silver Spring, College Park, and New Carrollton. The Purple Line will also connect to MARC, Amtrak, and local bus services. Stations will be
Montgomery County
Prince George's County
The Purple Line will be powered by overhead wires known as a catenary system. As a transit system separate from Metro, it will operate mainly in dedicated or exclusive lanes, allowing for fast, reliable transit operations. Most of the alignment will be at the road way level, though short segments will be elevated or underground.
The Purple Line is owned by the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA). In spring of 2016, MDOT MTA selected a private-sector partner, Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP) to design, build, operate, and maintain the light rail system for 35 years.
MDOT MTA is the project lead, with the support and close coordination of a team that includes the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA), and local municipalities in the project area.
AERIAL MAP FROM ELLIN ROAD TO VETERAN PARKWAY
Utility work continues
8/12/22
Utilities are being replaced. If you live on Decatur Road, you will see Verizon truck have been working on the power lines. Today, some residents experiencing no internet.
Purple Line CAT Meeting – 6/9/2022
Written report by Deanna Enchanique
Credit MDOT MTA
Powerpoint from the meeting:
Landscape Plan for New Carrollton can be found here: https://www.purplelinemd.com/construction/plans
Presenters:
David Abrams - Director of Communications
James Mitchell - Program Manager
Jeanine Ferris - Area 3 Manager
Dwain Sanders - Operations Manager
Carla Julian - Stakeholder Manager
Maryland Transit Solutions is the Design-Builder (signed onto project April 2022), and they were present at the meeting.
Service on the Purple Line is expected by the end of 2026 (fully open). They will not open only part of the alignment, as outlined by the previous builders. Riverdale to New Carrollton is still going to be the test track, but it will not be open to passengers at all until the end of 2026.
Currently, 77% of the utility relocation work is complete.
The Timeline is currently:
Summer 2022 – Work Starts with new Builder
Fall 2023 – Vehicle delivery
2024 – Test Track from Riverdale to New Carrollton
Winter 2025 – Systemwide testing. Empty trains will be run through the entire alignment.
Fall of 2026 – Open for Passenger Service
(timeline can be seen on Powerpoint Page 10)
Train Cars:
Ordered 26 rail cars. They look really beautiful! Please take a look at the powerpoint page 11.
The rail cars will have a capacity of 80 seated and 400 standing. It will have low floors with wide doorways and flexible spaces and folding seats for wheelchair and bicycle storage.
The company manufacturing the rail cars IS NOT THE SAME as the one who made the WMATA cars, which are currently experiencing issues and had to be pulled from service.
Six Month Look Ahead:
Utility work continues. The waterline relocation along 410 is anticipated to be completed Fall of 2022. They’re trying to complete all the utility work prior to the groundwork for the rails.
Riverdale will be an “aerial” station, and since it is so complex, it has a high priority for completion.
Ellin Road will still remain closed. I asked when we can expect the roadway to reopen, and the team said there is still a lot of work to be done. They do not anticipate Ellin Road to be open any sooner than Winter/Spring of 2023.
The New Carrollton Bus Loop will be temporary closed starting at the end of this year (2022) and into 2023 (where the work trailers are currently situated).
I was assured that New Carrollton WILL remain open to pedestrian traffic, even with the Bus Loop closed.
Questions can be sent to outreach@purplelinemd.com
There will be a lot of traffic changes at the 410-450 intersection as they continue utility work, and eventually will be installing the rails themselves.
They also anticipate they will have to close our portion of Ellin Road (where WLH intersects with Ellin) at some point to put in the rails that span Emerson Place.
They recommend signing up for text or email notifications of traffic changes.
https://mtamarylandalerts.com/purpleline/
, and they were present at the meeting.
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Purple Line Train Model at New Carrolton Library
1/15/2020
If you go to the New Carrolton Library you will see a model of how the Purple Line train will look like.
