Rail transit to airports (class, build, cost, New York)

[ricardobrazil]

Originally Posted by nei

Newark Airport has a monorail. But you have to switch to a regular rail to get anywhere. Monorails are generally short distance.

But its costs are quite low before tradicional railroad's. And building time is also shorter.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by Jerseykat

Nexis sadly I don't think the path will ever make it out here (i work at ewr) in my lifetime. LOL they have a hard enough time getting a traffic pattern corrected!

The PATH to EWR will be built before the Superbowl , the Extension to Jersey Gardens and Midtown Elizzy is not out of the proposal stages. The EWR extension will be cheap and is half built already....90 Million $$$. 130 Million with a station in the South Ironbound.

[nei]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

The PATH to EWR will be built before the Superbowl , the Extension to Jersey Gardens and Midtown Elizzy is not out of the proposal stages. The EWR extension will be cheap and is half built already....90 Million $$$. 130 Million with a station in the South Ironbound.

I don't see anywhere showing that the path to EWR is beyond planning stage.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by nei

I don't see anywhere showing that the path to EWR is beyond planning stage.

Proposal stages , its been floated around , since NJT isn't doing the LRT extension anymore....

[CHIP72]

I've used rail transit (and in a couple cases, bus transit) to travel to/from many airports. Here are my rankings of the rail/transit connections I've personally used:

1) Cleveland (GCRTA Red Line) - the original airport-rail connection (built in 1968) is still one of the very best (connection inside the terminal, not too far outside of the check-in and security gates), partly because Hopkins International Airport is relatively small, partly because it was built before the boom in passenger air travel that occurred after airline deregulation (1978). The bigger problem in Cleveland isn't the airport connection, it's that the Red Line (originally opened in part in 1955) was built almost entirely in a freight rail corridor, meaning many of the stations (excluding the GCRTA hub at Tower City) aren't highly convenient to walkable destinations. Still, the rail connection at Hopkins is excellent and practically as good as a taxi, particularly if you are going to/staying in downtown Cleveland near the Tower City station.

2) Washington National (WMATA Blue/Yellow Lines) - the connection here is only a few hundred feet from the terminal, is covered from the elements, and is highly convenient, particularly if you are using one of the two main terminals (and also in part because DCA is not an overly large airport). I currently live just outside of DC (literally within 1/4 mile of the MD-DC line) and DC National is definitely my preferred airport, partly because it is the closest and partly because it is relatively small (though BWI isn't that much larger) but also partly because of the convenient transit connection that easily allows me to keep my car parked at my apartment anytime I fly from DCA.

3) Philadelphia (SEPTA Airport Line) - the former SEPTA R1 line has stops at almost all of the airport's terminals, an unusual feature for a line that isn't an airport service-only line (i.e. like the AirTrain lines at EWR and JFK). The stops are actually closer to the terminals than the parking garage is, making the airport-train connection very convenient to use. The only negative, albeit a significant one, is that the Airport Line is a regional/commuter rail line with headways of 30 minutes, making it inconvenient time-wise at times when traveling from the airport.

4) Newark (NJ Transit Northeast Corridor/North Jersey Coast Lines, Amtrak Northeast Corridor via AirTrain Newark) - though there isn't a direct connection between the NJT/Amtrak station and the airport terminals like the 3 airports mentioned above, the rail connection at EWR is very good for an airport with shuttle train. The terminal shuttle train is conveniently located relative to the terminals and the train station and is a fairly short ride. The shuttles can get crammed though. Also, even though the rail connection is to NJ Transit commuter rail service, NJT's NEC and North Jersey Coast line trains run fairly often (especially the former), making it a viable connection to Manhattan (particularly midtown Manhattan at NYC Penn Station). Finally, the Amtrak (and commuter rail) connection to the airport here is much better than at BWI outside of Baltimore.

5) Chicago O'Hare (CTA Blue Line) - the CTA connection at O'Hare is very similar in design and look to the one in Cleveland (though at a much larger scale), except for A) O'Hare is a much bigger airport and the CTA has a much more heavily-used rail system than the GCRTA (CTA Blue Line trains are usually 6-8 rail cars, while GCRTA Red Line trains are usually 2 cars, though to be fair 2 GCRTA rail cars essentially equal 3 CTA rail cars length-wise) and B) you have to walk A LOT further through the terminal at O'Hare to get to the train than you do at Cleveland Hopkins. Still, considering how huge O'Hare is and how big a city Chicago is, having a direct rail connection to the airport with no shuttle train is a big plus. The connection is also better at O'Hare than at Chicago Midway IMO.

6) St. Louis (Bi-State/Metro light rail) - the connection at St. Louis Lambert isn't particularly user-friendly (or safe in some ways), mainly because you have to walk through the parking garage to get to the rail station. On the positive side, the light rail cars here use high-level platforms (unlike Baltimore for example), which makes getting your luggage on and off the rail cars easy. (All of the other rail services mentioned above, including SEPTA and NJ Transit as well as Amtrak, also have high-level platform connections at the airport rail station.)

7) Chicago Midway (CTA Orange Line) - if you want to walk over the river and through the woods...well, more accurately through a maze of hallways that don't feel like hallways at an airport to get between the airport rail station and the airport terminal, go to Midway Airport. Considering Midway is a relatively small airport and the CTA Orange Line was only built in the early 1990s, the inconvenient rail connection at the airport is surprising. Having said the above, almost the entire walk between the rail station and check-in and security areas is enclosed and out of the elements, and having a viable, albeit inconvenient transit connection is better than having none at all.

8) Baltimore (MARC Penn Line/Amtrak Northeast Corridor via BWI shuttle bus) - the rail station "at" BWI isn't really at BWI; it's probably at least 2-3 miles away from the airport. You need to use a shuttle bus between the station and the airport, and with everyone getting off the MARC or Amtrak train at the same time, in most cases with luggage to boot...well, traveling to the terminal on that shuttle bus can get a little tight. The bus ride from the airport terminal to the train station isn't ideal either; it stops at a couple of airport park-and-ride locations before going to the train station (at least the train station to airport terminal trip is direct). Finally, because MARC is a commuter rail service, headways are fairly long much of the day (often 1 hour at off-peak times). The MARC Penn Line also does not operate on weekends. Two positives about the airport-rail station connection are A) the train station has an enclosed waiting area with a snack bar and B) the shuttle bus drops off/picks up right outside each terminal.

In addition to the above connections, I'm familiar with (i.e. seen up close in person) but have never used the connection at BWI to the Baltimore light rail line. The connection is good as the rail line stops only a few steps from the northern-most terminal at BWI. (Of course Terminal A, home to Southwest, BWI's most heavily-used airline, is the southern-most terminal and is the furthest away from the light rail station.) Because BWI is only served by one of the light rail's two spur routes, which has headways only every 15 minutes at peak periods and 30 minutes at off-peak periods, and also that the light rail has low level platforms, I'd probably rank the BWI light rail connection behind Philadelphia and ahead of Newark if I was ranking it above.

Finally, I've also used bus transit connections to both BWI (via the WMATA B30 bus) and DC Dulles (via the WMATA 5A bus). Both of these connections stop right outside the airport terminal (though only at 2 terminals in BWI's case; in Dulles' case the single stop is well-located but then you have to hike THROUGH the airport), making them convenient. On the negative side, besides the fact buses are used (which obviously means there is less room for riders, particularly if the bus is set up for luggage, as is the case with the B30 bus), neither bus goes directly to downtown DC (though the 5A bus does go to L'Enfant Plaza, just south of the National Mall). The B30 bus is particularly a pain in this regard, going only to Greenbelt, meaning you still have a lengthy WMATA Green Line (or MARC Camden Line if you so choose) ride to downtown DC. Additionally, the headways for both buses are long (I think 30-40 minutes all day for both routes.) Still, I think both the B30 and 5A buses are fairly good transit options to/from the airport. (Objectively the 5A is probably a little better than the B30, but because Dulles is SO FAR from where I live, I'd much rather go to BWI when possible and use the B30 bus (or MARC Penn Line described above).

[nei]

This is an interesting proposal. Express from O'Hare to the center of Chicago?

ORDX Homepage - O'Hare Express Rail

[chirack]

Originally Posted by nei

This is an interesting proposal. Express from O'Hare to the center of Chicago?

ORDX Homepage - O'Hare Express Rail

Yeap but in the early(i.e. try to get a plan together) stages. 90% chance wont happen. 90% chance that if it does it will take 10+ years.

[pvande55]

Philadelphia R1 line is convenient enough. But every time in the last several years I rode it the ticket vending machines were missing. SEPTA has a zoned fare system, but it puts the airport in the same zone as Newark DE, 50 miles out. I guess that's their way of making a profit from visitors.

[ricardobrazil]

I don't know if it was mentioned above but, I think Shangai has the best one. Maglev train runs from Pudong Intl. Airp. to downtown(20 miles away) in about 7 minutes. Running at 266 miles/h

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by pvande55

"The failure of most American cities to connect their airports to downtown with trains (or to do so hopelessly after the fact) will go down as yet another of our great infrastructure blunders." - John Kasarda/Greg Lindsay, "Aerotropolis." While I suppose you can excuse Indianapolis, Columbus and Kansas City, which haven't even gotten around to building their first rail transit line, what about Buffalo, New Orleans, Pittsburg, Houston, Salt Lake City, Memphis, and many others that have rail transit lines but they don't reach the airport?

What makes anyone think that the general public will still be able to fly when fuel cost get so high that only the very rich or the military will be able to afford to use planes??

That said, why worry about even having, or building, rail to airports?