Purple Line

Alignment

The Purple Line is a 16-mile east–west light rail line through Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. It connects with Metrorail at Bethesda and Silver Spring (Red Line), College Park (Green and Yellow lines), and New Carrollton (Orange Line), so riders can travel between those branches without going through downtown D.C. From Bethesda, the line runs east beside the rebuilt Capital Crescent Trail to Connecticut Avenue and Lyttonsville. A storage and maintenance facility sits at Lyttonsville. The line then runs alongside the CSX freight and MARC commuter tracks through Woodside/16th Street to the Silver Spring Transit Center.

East of downtown Silver Spring, the line runs on Wayne Avenue (Silver Spring Library, Dale Drive, Manchester Place) to Arliss Street and Long Branch, and then along Piney Branch Road and University Boulevard (Piney Branch Road, Takoma Langley Transit Center, Riggs Road). It crosses the University of Maryland campus (Adelphi Road–UMGC–UMD, Campus Drive–UMD, Baltimore Avenue–UMD) to College Park–UMD. It then heads southeast through Riverdale Park (Riverdale Park North–UMD, Riverdale Park–Kenilworth), Beacon Heights–East Pines, and Annapolis Road/Glenridge to New Carrollton, where it meets Metrorail, MARC, and Amtrak.

The line is a public–private partnership. Purple Line Transit Partners designs, builds, finances, operates, and maintains it under a 36-year agreement, and the state keeps ownership. The fleet is 28 CAF Urbos light rail vehicles.

Updates

2026-11 — Testing extends into Long Branch

Light rail vehicle testing began between Riggs Road and Long Branch stations on November 7, 2026. Nightly testing already covered several segments in both counties, including Bethesda–Lyttonsville, the University of Maryland area, and Annapolis Road–New Carrollton.

2026-09 — Construction 92% complete

MTA said construction was about 92% complete, with major construction expected to finish in 2026. Live-wire light rail vehicle testing covers more than half the alignment and will expand to the full line in 2027. In October, MDOT reported it had awarded $3 million in grants since early 2025 to small businesses affected by construction, and it reaffirmed that passenger service should begin by the end of 2027.

2026-05 — Final track laid

Officials marked installation of the final track segment at the future 16th Street–Woodside station. That completed 16.2 continuous miles of track between Bethesda and New Carrollton. Passenger service was then projected for December 2027. Including the long-term operations contract, the project will cost more than $9 billion. The original 2016 agreement was for a $5.6 billion project opening in 2022.

2025-11 — Final rail car delivered

The 28th and last light rail vehicle was delivered. Vehicle testing had begun in April 2025 on a one-mile test track in Glenridge, and trains started running on the eastern part of the line that year.

2024-03 — Opening moved to winter 2027

MTA and Purple Line Transit Partners agreed to push the revenue service deadline to winter 2027, citing difficult urban construction conditions and late agency-related work. The state agreed to pay the concessionaire up to $425 million over five years, released as milestones are met. The project was more than 65% complete, with 13 of 21 stations under construction. The total cost estimate rose to about $9.53 billion, roughly $4 billion over the 2016 budget.

2022-04 — New builder signed after contractor exit

After the original design-build team withdrew in 2020 over cost disputes, Maryland agreed in November 2020 to a $250 million settlement, and MTA kept work going in the meantime. Maryland Transit Solutions, a Dragados USA and OHL USA joint venture, signed a $2.3 billion contract in April 2022 to finish construction. That raised construction costs to $3.4 billion, $1.46 billion more than the 2016 plan, and the total cost to build and operate the line to $9.3 billion.

2017-08 — Federal funding and construction start

The FTA committed $900 million to the project in August 2017, and construction began that year. A federal judge had vacated the project’s federal approval in August 2016, but an appeals court allowed work to proceed in December 2017. The last of three lawsuits was dismissed in 2020.

2016-04 — P3 agreement approved

Maryland selected Purple Line Transit Partners in March 2016, and the Board of Public Works approved the $5.6 billion, 36-year public–private partnership in April 2016, with service then planned for 2022.