A federal judge's ruling has delayed the construction of the Maryland Light Rail Purple Line P3 project.

According to sources, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that federal transit officials will need to complete a “supplemental” environmental review that could take several months. It is There is no certainty just yet as to whether or not Maryland will pursue an immediate appeal, but the state will continue to pursue any and all legal action to ensure that the Purple Line will move forward.

However, with this delay and with the Trump administration’s FY2018 budget proposal, this could lead to the project getting canceled.

The Maryland Light Rail Purple Line P3 is a 16-mile light rail line that runs east-west inside the Capital Beltway between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George's County with 21 stations planned that will provide direct connections to Metrorail's Orange Line, Green Line and two branches of the Red Line, and the MARC Brunswick, Camden and Penn Lines.

In early March, Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) selected Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP), a consortium composed of Meridiam, Fluor Enterprises and Star America to develop the project on a design, build, finance, operate and maintenance (DBFOM) basis under a 35-year agreement.

The consortium achieved financial close for the project in June 2016. The financing includes an US$875 million TIFIA loan from United States Department of Transportation and US$313 million of "Green Bond" designated Private Activity Bonds underwritten by JP Morgan and RBC Capital Markets. 

The construction of the line is expected to cost US$1.99 billion. The consortium would finance about half of this expense through the above-mentioned (TIFIA) loan and US$330 million of tax-exempt private activity bonds (PABs).

Additionally, the consortium would contribute a total of about US$140 million in equity, of which Meridiam would provide 70% while Fluor Corporation and Star America would each provide 15%.