Update, 8/11: A judge in Maryland has told the group building the Purple Line light rail system they must stay on the job until at least September 14.

The Purple Line Transit Partners LLC has said it aims to quit the project over the hundreds of millions of dollars of cost overruns and significant delays. They say the state should shoulder those costs. The state disagrees. 

The Maryland Transit Administration filed the lawsuit Monday. The judge said if the contractors abandoned the project it would do “irreparable harm” to the public.

Purple Line Transit Partners said in a letter on Tuesday that they intend to “fully comply” with the judge’s orders.

Maryland and the contractors have until August 22 to work out a negotiated deal. It’s unclear if they will reach an agreement. The state has said it will take over the project if the private group leaves.

Original:

The state of Maryland has officially signaled it would take over the flailing Purple Line project if the private companies involved in the partnership bow out. The parties have squabbled over $755 million in cost overruns and schedule delays for years.

The Maryland Transit Administration sent a letter to bondholders Tuesday, saying it has notified subcontractors and suppliers about “MTA’s rights to step-in and manage those contracts.”

The Washington Post first reported the news.

Both parties have until Aug. 22 to negotiate a deal or the MTA will take over, according to the letter.

“MTA continues to believe that a fair and reasonable settlement is in the best interest of the parties, and thus remains open and committed to seeking such an alternative solution,” Vernon Hartsock, Acting Purple Line Project Director wrote in a letter sent Monday.

In an email, MTA director of Public Affairs Erin Henson told DCist the same thing.

“Our focus is on ensuring the Purple Line gets completed,” Henson wrote. “Even as settlement discussions continue, the state has to protect its interests and be ready for any and all scenarios on how we deliver the project.

“As parties work in settlement discussions, there are certain dates and triggers in the contracts between the parties. This is another example of both parties protecting their interests, the state’s interest is ensuring the project gets completed for Maryland, that a fair deal is reached for the MD taxpayers and that we have a true partnership through the duration of this effort.”

But contractors have already begun to clean up construction sites and end the work that’s half done, the Post reports.

The 16-mile Purple Line light rail is set to connect New Carrollton to Bethesda. The project includes 21 stations and promises the region’s first suburb-to-suburb connection. It was slated to open in March 2022, but a lawsuit and other delays set the project back. Most recently, the group planned to open six stops in December 2022 and the other 15 stops in summer 2023. It’s unclear if that timeline is still feasible.

At $5.6 billion, Maryland undertook one of the largest Public-Private Partnerships in the nation, but the partnership quickly went south. The state owns the project, but Purple Line Transit Partners, the private half, was set to operate and maintain the line for 30 years.

The latest developments began in early May, when PLTP notified the MTA it was terminating its contract based on the conflict over who would pay for the additional costs of the delays.

In June and July, the two parties negotiated a plan “for the orderly transition of the Work, demobilization, and transfer of Project management, care, custody, and control to MTA.”

But in a recent letter, PLTP says the MTA only met with the private contractors once and “otherwise refused to meet to discuss the Transition Plan.”

Politicians, activists and residents have expressed concern about what may happen if the partnership ends.

In a July 27 letter to Gov. Larry Hogan, Congressman Anthony Brown said dissolving the partnership mid-project could leave “an enormous scar across our communities.

“The only acceptable path forward is to finish the Purple Line project. My hope is that the discussions between the State and PLTC are open, productive, and an agreement is reached as soon as possible.”

Greg Sanders, vice president of the Purple Line Now advocacy group, said the best option remains a negotiated settlement.

“Obviously COVID is a key issue at all levels of government, but in terms of transportation priorities, resolving this crisis should be at the top of the governor’s list.”

“It’s a shame that we’re now starting to see a construction slowdown, all the more reason to prioritize resolution.”

This story was updated with comments from the MTA and Purple Line Now.