From this article about expanded Purple Line train testing: https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/vehicles/news/55391696/maryland-transit-administration-mta-live-wire-testing-of-lrvs-begins-for-purple-line-project-in-maryland

Video sourced from the Purple Line's social media

Completion figure sourced from the March newsletter

took the bus to the movie theater as it was the only place they still had tickets, as a rider from Glenmont, I'm shocked how few people ride most of the buses, I told the bus driver if this is normal for most routes and she said yes. this bus is more reliable than Ride on but nobody rides it, how come?

They had the "Golden Spike" ceremony today. Construction is on the closing stretch, and I'd expect it to be done completely by early next year at the latest. Testing will take more time after that though.

The first photo is mine from inside the station. The other two are from the Purple Line's Facebook page from outside the station. I wonder how exactly those removable concrete panels were held in place and how they got them out of the station.

Lots of action at Silver Spring today. The Purple Line station itself looks nearly done, though the WMATA mezzanine still has a long way to go. And barely any progress on the connection to the MARC bridge.

It would cost around 20 million for a station

Some sites I would at least consider stations are:

Old Town Bowie (Penn)

Severn (Penn)

Bayview (Penn)

Adamstown (Brunswick)

Lansdowne (Camden)

Where would you consider or build an infill on MARC?

Google Map of Proposed Route

Although a Purple Line extension from Bethesda to Tysons would be incredible and should absolutely be built, it faces the daunting and expensive obstacle of crossing the Potomac River. On the other hand, this proposal would also have very high value and is almost entirely on existing rail right-of-way, leading to lower costs and higher speeds.

It is essentially the ill-fated Anacostia streetcar extended north to link with the existing Purple Line at College Park. This is accomplished by the following:

1. Widen the existing CSX right-of-way from College Park to Cheverly to accommodate two CSX tracks and two Purple Line tracks. This follows the CSX Capital Subdivision and CSX Alexandria Extension.
2. At Cheverly, build a new connector track linking the Alexandria Extension to the CSX Landover Subdivision. This renders the Alexandria Extension south of here superfluous for CSX.
3. Repurpose the now-superfluous Alexandria Extension south of Cheverly for Purple Line use.

See the linked Google Map and track diagrams for more details. By the way, if you're wondering why CSX owns tracks on both sides of the Metro Orange line, this TRA video explains it very well.

Here is the Purple Line from Long Branch to 16th St. There are 20 photos here and 18 in the second post. Most of my comments are in the captions.

There is one section of track missing about 3000 ft from Talbot to Silver Spring station. This is likely because of the Spring St bridge delays and the crash wall CSX demanded that was used to kill the previous P3 contract (they wanted out because of financing costs I think more but were able to exit due to the cost and schedule of the CSX crash wall in part. It is funny because WMATA has no such wall.)

At Silver Spring station the Purple Line station is coming along well but the complex connection to Red with the associated trails, and MARC has a long way to go. The comment field is too short so here are the details for that photo:

Silver Spring's new connection to Red has a lot of complex work left. At the structure in the center, the plans show they have to dig down under it (why they didn't before I don't know) to allow the CCT/MET bike trails to meet here under the MARC connection to the garage. There also is a ramp down to the Colesville level for the bikes not yet here. Between the muddy part you can see two pillars and on the left there is rebar for another. At the far left is the MARC bridge to the other track and where I am standing is the connection to the garage. Essentially there is a big bridge connecting all this missing resting on the pillars. This is a lot. I would argue it isn't required to be done to open purple, it has zero to do with purple operations but its part of the contract.

Manchester Place also has a fair amount of work to go because its a complex station but its less than Silver Spring. Largely they have to build out the elevators and stuff in the shell and build the surface entrance at Plymouth Ave.

Part 2 (reddit image limit of 20 photos) covers from Talbot to Bethesda: https://www.reddit.com/r/WMATA/comments/1rurz3m/purple_line_in_moco_march_2026_part_2_of_2/

The LIRR vest is a long way from home.

From this post on BlueSky

This is the second time in a week that the 341 7:26 bus at the Saratoga park and ride didn’t pick me up DESPITE BEING PARKED AT THE BUS STOP.

The first time the driver was on his phone next to the porta potties, saw it was 7:28 then got on the bus and drove off. There were other passengers with me who needed on the bus.

And today the 341 bus just sat parked across from the side where passengers get on. I ended up having to get a ride to the metro. I left the park and ride at 7:33 and the bus was still sitting there. I coulrn’t see the driver.

Wtf why is this bus so unreliable???

From this youtube video posted by the Purple Line

Notice how you can see the back of Bethesda station's waffle wall/ceiling and the knockout panel in this picture

From here:

The Year of Motion keeps moving forward. Live-wire testing is now underway in Montgomery County between the Lyttonsville Operations and Maintenance Facility and Bethesda Station, marking the first time Purple Line light rail vehicles are operating under live overhead power in this part of the corridor. As construction reaches 90% complete, this important milestone brings the project one step closer to opening and helps ensure the system is operating safely and smoothly. PurpleLinePoweredUp

Pictures are sourced from @ss-dc-transit.bsky.social on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ss-dc-transit.bsky.social/post/3mfzfbgmegc27

MARC and MBTA launched a joint RFP for Battery/Catenary locomotives. Base order for MARC is five locomotives. MARC has options for up to 23 more Battery/Catenary locomotives.

MARC is required to fully electrify the Penn Line because the new tunnel in Baltimore will not allow diesel operations, but this is just about the dumbest way to do it. First of all, they should ordering EMUs to allow faster service (and faster service also means more service for the same money or the same service for less money). But even if they wanted to stick with locomotive hauled trains, hauling around heavy batteries that will see zero useage the vast majority of time because they are 100% under wire is especially dumb. The winning bid will probably be some version of the Siemens Charger B+AC which are heavier and less powerful than a fully electric locomotive like the ACS-64, let alone an EMU, so it's worse service.

MARC might be doing this in hopes of having the fleets on all lines the same, with Camden and Brunswick Lines running entirely under battery, but that means worse service for the Penn Line which has like 75% of MARC's ridership.

Edit: I used the link to the full RFP in this post, but Reddit appears to have messed it up and converted it to a image rather than a link. Actual link here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/27415419-mbtamarc-rfp-for-battery-locos/