Judge rules for Maryland’s Purple Line project in environmental suit NEWSWIRE

More Thursday morning rail news:

— A federal judge has ruled against an attempt to block Maryland’s Purple Line light rail project on environmental grounds, finding that the Maryland Transit Administration “clearly demonstrated” the design for the 16-mile, $2-billion project “was the least evinromentally damaging practicable alternative.” The Engineering News-Record reports that U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar turned down claims from two residents and a non-profit group that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the federal Clean Water Act by allowing construction work in streams and wetlands without fully considering other options. It is the third suit that has attempted to stop the project; prior legal efforts delayed construction of the project, which is on pace to have only its easternmost 5-mile segment ready to open by the original March 2022 date for completion.

— The Purple Line project will require more months and another $187.7 million to build a required “crash wall” to project against derailments on an adjacent CSX Transportation line between Lyttonsville and the Silver Springs, Md., transit center. The Washington Post reports that the consortium building the 16-mile rail line has informed the Maryland Transit Administration that CSX is requiring a different kind of crash wall than anticipated, and the railroad only recently issued requirements for the wall after more than a year of work with the contractors.

— The Nevada Northern Railway Foundation has become one of the first companies in Nevada to receive a Payroll Protection Program loan under a Small Business Administration program funded by the federal coronavirus recovery act. An article in the Ely Times by former foundation president Mark Bassett says the loan will allow the tourist railroad and museum to cover its payroll through the end of June.