The Maryland Department of Transportation announced this morning in a public statement that the upcoming Purple Line will be delayed once again, this time to the summer of 2028. This comes due to high pedestrian traffic in and around the University of Maryland campus and the surrounding College Park.

Testing of the trains through the UMD campus began on March 24th, bringing spectators to witness a historic moment of rail use on campus.

In the early morning of March 27th, a Purple Line train was stopped and is currently unable to move while it waits for pedestrians to cross Campus Drive in front of UMD’s Stamp Student Union. A mix of warmer weather and high school spring breaks in the region has led to an influx of tour groups and students going outside to play frisbee on McKeldin Mall.

MDOT estimates that the situation will be cleared around the end of December of this year, although causing a mysterious year-and-a-half opening delay. The train will likely be abandoned until colder weather significantly decreases pedestrian traffic in the area. From there, operators are tasked with doing absolutely nothing for the weeks following.

In their statement, they urged UMD students to allow vehicles to pass after some time of letting pedestrians cross, citing the hundreds of vehicles that were disabled on campus by the same issue. If the issue persists, the project may be delayed further to 2029 or 2030.

Image Credits: Kenlynn Ingham