A sign shows the new train that will run on the new Purple Line on Aug. 28 in Hyattsville, Md. (Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post)

Regarding the Oct. 16 editorial "Parochialism continues to cripple Metro":

Again, because of an inexplicable love affair with the Purple Line, the two-track trolley serving only two Maryland counties, The Post has missed the obvious solution. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a vital regional transportation system; the Purple Line is not. Metro has deficits in both its operating and capital budgets; the Purple Line’s contract will cost $5.6 billion, with nearly $2 billion in grants and loans from the federal government.

The obvious solution to Metro’s fiscal woes would have been to find a way to redirect that $2 billion in federal contribution to Metro. Sadly, the Trump and Hogan administrations and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties missed the train. The Purple Line probably will be built, and Metro’s many woes will continue ad infinitum.

Metro is the top regional transportation systems, followed closely by Interstate 270, the American Legion Bridge and the Capital Beltway. The Purple Line is not even likely to be close. It is a waste of scarce taxpayer resources — a vanity project.

I hope Metro board Chairman Jack Evans continues to display the red light on the Purple Line. Metro is too big to fail.

Frederick H. Graefe, Bethesda