Maryland is beginning to take the idea of grass track beds for light rail very seriously. For years renderings of the Purple Line have shown grass tracks in some sections, and now the state has installed an actual grass track as a pilot project in Baltimore.

Actually, they are testing a variety of green track beds, grass being only one of the options. They’re also looking at sedums, another type of ground cover plant that is often used on green roofs, and which use less water and are easier to maintain than regular grass.

Here are some pictures of the test project:

MTA has also been repainting its light rail cars with new color schemes in recent years. This is apparently part of a refurbishment project for its oldest railcars. The original blue stripe livery is slowly disappearing, as cars are repainted with the more colorful 2010 and 2011 liveries.

Original 1992 livery.	~2003 livery.
~2010 livery.	~2011 livery (left).