The long-delayed light rail Purple Line project connecting Montgomery County to Prince George’s County took a step forward Thursday.

The final piece of track was hammered into place, with the honors going to local, state and federal leaders who were on hand for the event.

Among the leaders swinging a sledgehammer along the railway line in Silver Spring was Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

“We’re completing over 16 miles of track from New Carrollton to Bethesda. We are putting more than 2,000 people to work,” Moore said.

The Purple Line will have 21 stops, connecting communities along the way.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said connection is one the goals of the project.

“We’ve had, for a very long time, the Metro system that has those north-south spikes, but the whole idea of the Purple Line was we needed to connect communities east to west, in many cases, communities that had been left behind,” Van Hollen said.

The project, which is about five years behind the initial projected opening date, has been an economic burden to many small businesses along its path as they’ve dealt with restricted access for customers.

Many along the corridor that are being impacted have received small business grants to keep them afloat during construction. The project has been impacted by lawsuits and developer changes, such as when a private contractor withdrew in 2020, as well as utility issues.

Maryland Del. Marc Korman, who represents Montgomery County in Annapolis, acknowledged the past problems, but pointed out in the near future, the railway is going to help a lot of people who don’t commute into D.C. for work.

Korman said the majority of commuters in Montgomery County commute to other suburbs.

“That’s why a suburb-to-suburb transit connection, a fixed transit connection like the Purple Line, is so important,” he said.

Trains on the Purple Line are projected to start running in late 2027 or early 2028.