DALLAS – The question of whether Maryland's $5.6 billion Purple Line light rail project will be financed as a public-private partnership remains in limbo until federal officials determine whether the declining ridership on Washington's Metro system will undermine the viability of the planned 16-mile rail line.
The Maryland Transit Administration will not be able to accept a $900 million federal grant already awarded to the project or begin construction on the rail line until the ridership survey is completed. The grant would cover almost half of the project's $2 billion of construction costs.
In an
Leon reversed his earlier order that the Federal Transit Administration reopen the entire environmental review, which it approved in 2014, to consider the impact of declining Metro ridership on the Purple Line.
Federal transportation officials, and not a judge, should decide whether the ridership dip would be sufficient to require a complete new environmental statement, he said.
Leon directed the FTA to determine whether Metro's woes would substantially depress Purple Line ridership and then submit the findings to him.
Federal and Maryland transit officials "wholly failed to consider the impact that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail's recent safety and ridership issues could have on the Purple Line Project," Leon said in his order.
He declined to reinstate the official record of decision on the grant and instead sent it back to the FTA to await the revised passenger projections.
Leon's order resulted from a lawsuit Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail filed in 2014 to stop the Purple Line on environmental grounds. The plaintiffs revised their complaint in June to seek a six-month delay to allow a review of their contentions that ridership on the system would be lowered by Metro's recent maintenance woes.
About 27% of the Purple Line's passengers are expected to use the Metro heavy rail system to connect with the east-west line between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George's County by 2040. Metro ridership is down by 100,000 trips per day since 2010, or about 12%.
A ceremony marking the formal acceptance of the FTA grant had to be canceled in early August after Leon halted the project. Work was to have begun on the Purple Line in October. Project construction kickoff now will be delayed at least until mid-2017, Maryland officials said.
The construction financing also includes $138 million from the private partners, $313 million of private activity bonds issued in June by the Maryland Economic Development Corp. and an $873 million federal low-interest loan under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. The PABs and the TIFIA loan were rated BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.
Maryland signed a contract in April with Purple Line Transit Partners, an international consortium of Fluor Enterprises, Meridiam Infrastructure Purple Line, and Star America Fund, to finance, build, and operate the Purple Line. The private partners will operate it for 30 years and receive annual availability payments.
Greg Sanders, vice president of the rail advocacy group Purple Line Now, said he is encouraged that Leon did not order a new environmental impact statement.
"Of course, we're disappointed he didn't reestablish a record of decision, which means the groundbreaking likely gets pushed further off," Sanders said.
The lawsuit filed by "very tiny group of elite people" have held up the project for too long, said Ronit Dancis, president of a pro-Purple Line group, Action Committee for Transit.
"Obviously we would have preferred a complete victory," Dancis said. "But now there are some possible paths forward."
