» Cost: Approximately $1.5 billion
» Train capacity: 150 riders per three-car train
» Maximum speed: 42 miles per hour
» Travel time between stations: Approximately 1 minute, 12 seconds
» Power source: Electricity
Passengers at Washington Dulles International Airport soon will be able to ride a train from terminal to terminal, rather than the airport’s hated “mobile lounge” vehicles.
Dubbed the “AeroTrain,” the airport’s new $1.5 billion people mover system is scheduled to open early Tuesday morning. “This is about eight years worth of work that is finally going to become a reality,” said James Bennett, president of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages Dulles and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports. The system originally was scheduled to open late last year, but equipment testing pushed its start date back a month. The AeroTrain system features 29 electric train cars, each capable of transporting roughly 50 passengers.
Officials say trains of three cars will run about every two minutes, with an average ride time of just more than a minute between terminal stops. While AeroTrain incorporates the latest technologies, a part of Dulles’ past — the oft-maligned “mobile lounges” — will endure, at least for some international travelers. “We’ll continue to operate some mobile lounges,” Bennett said. “But the primary way [to move about the airport], especially for domestic passengers, will be to use the AeroTrain system.”
Dulles added a subterranean walkway in 2004 to give travelers a way around the mobile lounges. The airport also opened a new security screening area in September, part of a $3.4 billion expansion and renovation project. Officials said the AeroTrain was designed to satisfy current transportation needs while accommodating future growth. “This [new system] gives us the capacity to expand for years to come,” said Frank Holly, engineering vice president for the airports authority. “This [new system] gives us the capacity to expand for years to come,” said Frank Holly, engineering vice president for the airports authority. About 11 million travelers fly out of Dulles each year –a number the Federal Aviation Administration says could balloon to 26 million during the next two decades.
The AeroTrain’s U-shaped track system connects the main terminal to the B and C-gate concourses, as well as the future site of a planned concourse expansion. Airport manager Christopher Browne said airport officials “elected to do a loop because it allows us to have two stations at each concourse,” and therefore can accommodate more travelers. Holly said he felt that it would bolster visitors’ impressions of Washington.
“If you’re coming to the nation’s capital, you should be able to walk through a world-class facility,” he said.
