MDOT MTA Purple Line Project Is 80% Complete
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
Train interlocking near the New Carrollton Station.
Courtesy of MDOT MTA
BALTIMORE - The MDOT MTA Purple Line newsletter was released for July 2025. It contains progress updates on the Purple Line in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties.
Purple Line Senior Project Director for the MTA Ray Biggs II stated the Purple Line project is 80% done, and 54% of rail installation is complete. Additionally, the overhead catenary system, or OCS, is underway. As such, this work necessitates the need for “careful coordination with various agencies,” and Biggs thanked the public for their patience.
Prince George’s County
In Prince George’s County, the MDOT MTA shared the following updates. At the Riverdale Park-Kenilworth Station, handrails were installed along the walkway. Along Ellin Road, there is a train interlocking that allows “Purple Line trains to switch between tracks.” Back in June, an art installation was added at the Riverdale North-UMD Station in the form of a “twisting column” to mimic the propellers of the first planes flown at the nearby airport. Elsewhere, LRVs will begin testing on a section of embedded track near New Carrollton along Ellin Road.
Montgomery County
In Montgomery County, the Lyttonsville Maintenance Facility is currently under construction. Technicians can access the area underneath the LRV for “any necessary maintenance,” according to the newsletter. At the facility, there will be a storage yard to afford LRVs access to the western end of the alignment. Crews are also constructing a canopy structure at the Connecticut Avenue Station that will cover the stairs leading to the platform. Located west of Silver Spring, ballast track and foundations are in place for overhead catenary poles near the Talbot Avenue Bridge.
