A 16.2 miles light rail transit with 21 stations and 28 light rail vehicles.

Background

The Purple Line Project requires the Concessionaire to finance, develop, design, construct, equip and supply light rail vehicles for, and operate and maintain, a 16.2-mile light rail transit line that runs from Bethesda to New Carrollton, extending east-west inside the Capital Beltway within the Maryland suburbs north of Washington, DC. There will be 21 stations and 28 light rail vehicles on the new line.

This new line will provide connections to several existing transit providers, such as the Washington Metropolitan Metrorail System and Amtrack’s Northeast Corridor regional system. It improves mobility to major economic and job centers: Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma/Langley Park, College Park, New Carrollton as well as the University of Maryland.

The procuring parties are the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) (together, the Owner). The contractor is Maryland Transit Solutions (MTS), a joint venture between Dragados USA and OHLA USA.

Stage

Under Construction

ESG/SDG Key Facts

The Project has coordinated with federal and state regulatory agencies to develop and implement a project-wide compensatory mitigation strategy to offset impacts to wetlands and aquatic resources. During design and construction, the Project will strive to avoid long-term water quality and quantity impacts to aquatic biota by minimizing the amount of new impervious surfaces associated with the transit way, yard, and maintenance facility. With the previous Design-Build  Contractor, over $188 million of design and construction had been undertaken by DBEs (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise). The new DB Contract will continue with these requirements, with an expected target of more than $450 million additional DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) participation ($223 million committed as of end of August 2023).
The Project is estimated to take 17,000 cars off the road daily, saving approximately 1m gallons of petrol over 20 years. It will provide key mobility benefits (including trip time savings of between 20-30 minutes) and complete the Bethesda-Silver Spring bike / ped trail. The asset is aligned with a 1.5°C trajectory(1).

(1) CIARA’s 2°C alignment scoring methodology was developed by Carbone 4 with the support of the “2-infra challenge” initiative, gathering key financial sponsors: Meridiam, the French
Development Agency, La Banque Postale AM, EIT Climate KIC, and Generali Global Infrastructure