The Purple Line is Now Nearly 90% Finished
The Purple Line is nearly 90 percent complete.
The 16-mile light rail line, which runs through parts of Riverdale Park and College Park, is receiving its finishing touches in Prince George’s County—the section slated to be finished first. At the Riverdale Park-Kenilworth Station, stairs and an elevator tower are now in place, and a new sidewalk has been added along the tracks.
Additionally, a cosmetic stone finish is being applied to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway underpass.
At the Riverdale Park-Kenilworth Station, stairs and an elevator tower have been built for passengers and a new sidewalk has been added along the tracks. A cosmetic stone finish is being added to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway underpass.
In College Park, poles for the overhead electric lines have been placed along Campus Drive in the University of Maryland and traffic signals and flashing lights have also been installed.
Operators are now regularly taking trains on test runs between Veterans Parkway and the College Park-UMD station from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The light rail line is currently scheduled to begin passenger service in the winter of 2027.
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If the Purple Line is 90% complete, why are we still almost 2 years away from service?
The timeline on the page linked with the last phrase in this story is confusing. It claims track work will be done this spring and then it has no work or progress listed until spring 2027, when it says end-to-end testing will begin. What will be happening in most of 2026 if not testing? Then, the timeline says the system will open in winter 2027, which in my mind occurs before spring 2027. They must mean December 2027 but I don’t know anyone who uses the term like that.