A Maryland board approved a $5.6 billion contract Wednesday for a team of companies to build and operate a light-rail Purple Line that state officials say will rejuvenate older communities and transform a 16-mile swath of the Washington suburbs.
The Purple Line also will be the first direct suburb-to-suburb link in a regional rail system built 40 years ago to ferry federal workers between the suburbs and the city. Although the line will connect Maryland's spokes of the Metrorail system, it will be owned and operated separately by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).
The Board of Public Works — made up of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) and Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) — approved the 36-year contract unanimously after 40 minutes of discussion.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, with trains carrying passengers by spring 2022.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/maryland-board-scheduled-to-vote-wednesday-on-56-billion-purple-line-contract/2016/04/06/7a397f82-fb44-11e5-9140-e61d062438bb_story.html
You know what is so sad in this...if they want the density they expect this addition is going to create they could do it if they just stopped approving low-density sprawl. Anyhow, this is a huge step in creating a metro-wide mass transit system that doesn't send everyone to the center city first.