The Purple Line Project is a 16-mile, 21-station light rail transit line that will connect several communities in Maryland, from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County.  The corridor is located along the Capital Beltway near Washington, D.C., in a densely populated area with continued commercial, institutional, mixed-use, and residential development.   The Project will include five major activity center stations (Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma-Langley Park, College Park, and New Carrollton) and 16 smaller stations that serve residential communities, commercial districts, and institutional establishments.  It will also provide direct connections to three branches of the existing Metrorail system, all three MARC commuter rail lines, and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line.  Although the Project will provide direct connections with Metrorail and MARC, it will remain physically and operationally separate. 

MDOT and MTA entered into a public-private partnership (P3) agreement on April 7, 2016 with a special purpose company comprised of several leading design, construction, and maintenance firms to facilitate delivery and amplify performance of the asset.  Under the terms of this agreement, the private partners will accept risk from MDOT and MTA in exchange for availability payments, and they will complete five third-party projects that will complement the completed Purple Line.

The Purple Line Project is primarily intended to address severe traffic congestion and improve mobility for transit-dependent neighborhoods, providing for an east-west transit option to complement the north-south option currently available through the existing Metrorail system and MARC lines.  The Project is expected to reduce travel times by approximately 40% and eliminate approximately 17,000 auto trips per day.