Purple Line Train Tests Will Begin In Maryland In 2020 Or After, Contractor Says

Light-rail trains for Maryland’s Purple Line will begin running on test tracks in Prince George’s County in 2020 or after, the project’s contractor said Thursday.

CAF USA will begin assembling the rail cars this year at a plant in Elmira, N.Y., with parts shipped from Spain, said Fred Craig, chief executive of Purple Line Transit Partners.

Each Purple Line train will have one 143-foot “light-rail vehicle” that will have about 80 seats and, with standing room, will carry as many as 431 people. Trains will run mostly above ground via an overhead electric line.

Construction on the 16-mile line between Montgomery and Prince George’s counties began in August, and it’s scheduled to start carrying passengers in 2022.

Trains will begin testing on tracks at the New York plant in 2019, Craig said. They’ll then run on two miles of test track in the Glenridge area of Prince George’s, where there also will be a train storage facility. The Maryland testing will begin in 2020 at the earliest, but the timing will depend on the results of the New York tests, as well as when the Prince George’s tracks and storage facility are completed, he said.

Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at the Washington Post

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