Maryland’s Purple Line was always destined to hit the headlines. The new stretch of light rail is one of the largest transportation schemes in the US, the second-ever project to be funded through a P3 public-private partnership, and – at a cost of approximately $9 billion – the largest project in Maryland’s history. Add to the mix the scheme’s proximity to the White House and it’s easy to see why it has stayed in the national spotlight. Yet, right from the start, the Purple Line has attracted attention for other reasons entirely.

Ambitious in scope, the light rail line traverses east to west across two counties, several Maryland suburbs and 16 miles of densely populated, socially and economically diverse urban communities. The new line will link up with four Washington Metro stations on three lines, saving users in that part of the Washington Metropolitan Area a trip in the centre of the city to connect once complete. Despite these expected improvements for passengers, tensions have run high, and the project has been beset by claims and challenges since the start.

All seemed to be on track when construction finally began in 2017. Then, in June 2020, the unimaginable happened. Following a series of setbacks and project delays, the design-build team decided they had had enough, and walked off the job, leaving the State of Maryland with the huge legacy project on their hands, and no one to finish building it. The scheme hit the headlines again.

Step forward James Mitchell who, as Project Director, is leading AECOM’s program management team on the Purple Line. He rose to the challenge of supporting the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) to get the project back on track. This involved not only keeping work going on site, but also supporting the MTA to appoint a new design and build concessionaire at pace so that full-scale construction could resume as soon as possible. (The task of selecting a new design and build team was completed in Autumn 2021 and the financial close/notice to proceed was issued in Spring 2022.)

“The line is 30-40 per cent built and we have no contractor. That’s unprecedented in US history.”

Keeping the momentum going

“Looking back to 2020, the line was 30-40 percent built and we had no contractor. That was unprecedented in US history,” says Mitchell.

“When the contractor downed tools, the MTA took over day-to-day management of the project and had suddenly picked up around 150 subcontracts,” he adds.

“It wasn’t within our client’s normal wheelhouse to manage that kind of workload, so, as program managers on the project, we stepped in to pick up the pieces and take on all the subcontracts on their behalf. Our project team went from 50 full-time staff to about 130 overnight.”

In addition, AECOM supported the accelerated delivery of both the technical elements, as well as overall management for the project while the new design and build concessionaire was procured. All of the extra effort was done while the coronavirus pandemic took hold so managing enabling works safely during lockdowns was a significant challenge.

“There was a lot of pressure to keep the job going,” he says. “The project is within eight miles of the White House and The Capitol in Washington, DC, so attracts a lot of attention – not all of it good. The hardest thing is staying focused on delivery, and to not get distracted.”

From the start, the priority was to identify elements of the work that would de-risk the next tender and keep the contractors moving over an eight-month period.

“We were never going to be building the major assets before a new design-build concessionaire was procured. The focus was always on protecting and progressing work that was partially complete. So, we focused on completing critically important utility diversion work, partially completed structures, and other discreet elements. In the end, we completed approximately 200 utility relocation packages across 16.2 miles.”

Mitchell also leveraged AECOM’s global expertise to resolve other challenges that arose.

“The Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) fleet had to be stored and warranties extended until the project was ready to receive them in the fall of 2023,” says Mitchell. “We were able to reach out to our colleagues in AECOM’s Madrid office for support during the negotiation period to resolve a key issue and purchase additional LRVs as well at overall cost savings to the MTA.”

Early involvement

As the lead firm in a tri-venture program management team, AECOM has been heavily involved with the program since its early days, having drawn up the initial environment assessments, and having overseen the development of the preliminary design for the entire alignment. Following the selection of the design-build concessionaire in 2016 – Purple Line Transit Constructors (PLTC) – AECOM’s role evolved as the project went from planning to construction, with the AECOM-led team serving as MTA’s program manager to manage design and construction, along with the integration of stakeholder requirements.

Adapting quickly

So how was the team able to adapt so quickly to the increase in program management scope following PLTC’s departure? “It helped greatly that we were operating as an extension of MTA’s staff,” says Mitchell, “so we were perfectly placed to respond, bringing in a depth of expertise as well as resources. Plus, we had designed our PMO model to be really flexible, so we were able to bring in those resources at pace.”

The good working relationship between AECOM and MTA played a huge part too, with the client praising AECOM for “the outstanding services provided” and describing the leadership as “exceptional”.

Procuring a new design-build concessionaire

Mitchell and his team have also supported MTA to procure a new design-build concessionaire. This very large contractual change event was accomplished in just ten months (a typical tender can take 18-24 months).

“We provided the technical resources to support both the concessionaire and the MTA in adjusting the P3 Agreement and design-build contract to reflect the current state of the project including unprecedented complex risk transfers/regimes, renewing project level insurance policies in an extremely tight insurance market, and how to address the risk associated with partially completed work in a fair and balanced manner, as well as preparing the tenders and procurement requirements,” says Mitchell.

The team also progressed uncompleted civil and systems design work, which helped the new design build concessionaire to mobilize quickly once appointed.

“The project is in a much better place now,” says Mitchell. “With full-scale construction now back in full swing, the project can advance forward to deliver the State’s promise to the citizens of Maryland and those that live and work in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.”