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Last week, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) began construction on the first Houston light-rail line to receive new track since September 2001.

The agency began pouring concrete on the southeast Purple line to form a bed for an 80-foot section of steel rail, which will be part of the guide way for 6.6 miles of new light rail crossing southeast Houston and connecting to the current Main Street Red line, the East End Green line and the planned University Blue line, agency officials said in a prepared statement.

The line is expected to open in mid-2014.