SHOCKING TRUTH: Maryland's Purple Line - Stunning Success or Failure?

[@williamevans9709]

This is critical to DMV system because it provides intersuburban travel that is common elsewhere in the developed world, but rare in the US and Canada. Many American transit systems center on downtown, but provide little consideration for people traveling between suburbs

[@KevinGrolig]

Thanks for watching my video. What are your thoughts on speed? One of my viewers commented it would be very slow. I will be checking into the speed from end to end.

[@williamevans9709]

@@KevinGrolig I need to do a bit more reading on the speed

[@williamevans9709]

@@KevinGrolig I think that this system, like so many in America, needs more funding to allow trains to move faster safety using switches. Transit is substandard in most of America. I live in Buffalo and while the transit functional, it is frustrating

[@starventure]

@@williamevans9709 Mister, you live in Buffalo. Everything is substandard there because it doesn't need to be better.

[@TheEpicDiamondMiner]

Unfortunately, the yellow line was cut to Mount Vernon Square

[@CABOOSEBOB]

I like this line! It should be a light metro though, with full grade separation. Nevertheless, it will be a big success

[@KevinGrolig]

Thanks for checking out my video 🎥🎥

[@oskarsrode2167]

This reminds me of the Stockholm Tvärbanan light rail that connects the radial subway and commuter lines and has been expanded multiple times and is extremely popular.

[@KenanTurkiye]

roses are red, violets are blue, trains, trams and buses come in all sorts of hue ;) my playlist #2 is about transportaion

[@Bad_Wolf_762]

electric power means no air emissions????? where is that power coming from???

[@GobbiExists]

overhead wires from electrical wires above the train, most likely or it could have third rail (haven’t watched the video yet lol) edit: yeah, overhead wires! they get energy from the wire systems nearby and transfer that power to the electrical engine and battery i believe and will power the train!

[@icosthop9998]

Bottom Line _______ Coal fired powered plants.

[@virgilrobertsjr7870]

Nice song rendition! ☆☆☆☆☆ 💯 PS. I thought it was a Metro operation? 🤔

[@KevinGrolig]

Thanks so much for checking out my video. I'm working on signing lessons.

[@timturn]

Glad it is only a few years from being done, but I do with they kept the original concept where the purple line went around the beltway.

[@douglasengle2704]

The Georgetown Branch use for an electric light rail has always been about allowing larger density zoning in Silver Spring and getting large amounts of construction dollars pumped in from the state and federal government into Montgomery County and its government. That promotion was used to purchase the Georgetown Branch railroad by Montgomery County with the ability to go directly from rails to trails preserving the railroad alignment through a very piedmont hilly area as a paved bicycle path. It was through promotion by the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail in 1990 of preserving the railroad alignment both vertically and horizontally as a paved bicycle path the term Rail-Trail was created. Term Rail-Trail has since been pushed out all over the world. The Georgetown Branch has grades of 1.25% in Montgomery County as a normal climbing grades with a brief 1.9% as it merges into the Metropolitan Branch. This makes it a steep gradient where most railroad grades try to below 0.7%. Between the DC line and Fletcher's Boathouse the gradient can be 1.5%. Any prolonged gradient over 0.4% becomes very noticeable to both cyclists and trains a like. This makes the original Georgetown Branch gradients difficult and near the limit of easy bicycling. The light rail implementation doesn't show any interest in reducing or maintaining Rail-Trail like ability for the Capital Crescent Trail. It has just used the Georgetown Branch as real estate. The issue of whether the light rail is a waste of tax payer's money isn't an easy issue. What is at issue is when the project had started to approach Metro rail costs it should have been turned over to be a true Metro rail implementation which is much faster and more attractive to up scale users than a European tram.

[@entertainmenttv5201]

Can you do Baltimore red Line

[@KevinGrolig]

Hey there….thanks so much for checking out my video. My channel really focuses on Montgomery County, MD and the surrounding DMV. Baltimore is a little outside the areas I serve.

[@graymorality]

Really glad the original team ended up losing this project. I would never ride on that one, it was an organizational mess.

[@rehabmax]

The 17,000 daily car reduction is probably much less than that. You did not mention the troubled history of the line and the fight between Larry Hogan and the original Purple Line contractors. Hogan lost that fight and the contractors quit. More delays ensued. University Highway has been a construction zone for years. Since it runs on the regular roads it is going to be a slow ride. Who is really going to ride it ? Is it any faster than a bus ride? Crossing gates may cause more traffic delays at times. University of Maryland already had Green Line access. Maybe a few students will take it to New Carrollton to go to NYC for a weekend. I am more excited about the bike lane enhancements than the line itself. They spent a lot of money on this one. Will be see the Purple Line packed with people ? Bethesda people will take the Red Line. I never saw the need for this one.

[@prophetesswendywilliams4399]

LOL.. 😅😅 Very creative. Thanks for the information. Purple Line would be nice and probably would be good for people. I would rather drive, though.

[@KevinGrolig]

LOL....You are welcome. Thanks for checking out my video. I'm not much of a public transportation guy however, this sounds super cool moving East-West between Montgomery County and the University of MD in Prince Georges County. Once it's complete, I'm definitely going to check it out and do a follow up video. Thanks again for watching the video ❤.

[@pilotow1817]

@@KevinGrolig I stumbled across your video by accident, but as a college student at UMD this would've changed my life, I had to commute by car and that was horribly expensive and time consuming. Loved the video!

[@KevinGrolig]

Thanks for watching my video. I 100% agree. I don’t necessarily have the need for the Purple Line however, I live in Gaithersburg and have kids who went to UMD and currently have a step-son who goes there. This would make traveling too and from so much more convenient. Thanks again for watching and your reply. All the Best!!

[@gchsbus]

YAWN. All this money for what? If you have ever taken the Light Rail in Baltimore or especially the RiverLine in Southern NJ, they are both two tracks and SLOW! You could probably take the Metro from New Carrollton to DC and jump back on the next train and show back up where you started while someone else took this Purple Line has not reached the end of the line in Bethesda. All this does is help commuters get from one Metro Line to another without having to take a bus or take the Metro into the city to transfer. However, this will be soooo slow.

[@KevinGrolig]

Thanks for checking out my video. You bring up a very interesting point. I may do a follow up video on the speed and timeframe to get from end to end. I agree, I think it could be helpful for those taking Pruple Line to ultimately transfer to Metro or Marc.

[@Jeevanm71]

The Purple Line cars will run on public streets. But for 15 of its 16.2 miles they will be in dedicated lanes, separate from other vehicles. This will allow the Purple Line to travel faster than other traffic. For instance, the 8-mile trip from Langley Park to Bethesda is supposed to take just 22 minutes on the Purple Line. From Bethesda to Silver Spring should take about 8 minutes.

[@gchsbus]

@@Jeevanm71 Right but it is still slow versus creating a new three track elevated or underground metro line in its place for local and express stops. Light Rail is slow. It does not matter how much is on dedicated track. It still stops every mile to two miles. Look at Philadelphia's Norristown High Speed Line for SEPTA. It runs on 100% its own isolated track and it is still SLOW because the stops are so close and there is no express track for a limited stop vehicle.

[@thetrainguy1]

​@@gchsbus I don't think Light Rail is slow. It's only slow when done wrong. If it's going to be in it's own ROW it should be fine.