Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday unveiled new underground “AeroTrain” cars slated to become the airport’s primary means of moving passengers.
The rubber-tired, automated cars will largely replace the airport’s “mobile lounges,” enormous-wheeled ferries that have for years characterized public transportation at Dulles. The new vehicles are part of a project to connect concourses through tunnels under the airport. The first 3.7-mile phase should be finished by 2009.
“It’s a much more efficient way to transport passengers,” said Tara Hamilton, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The $1.3 billion tunnel system is necessary, according to the Airports Authority, because of a need for modernization and because of continued growth. Passengers at Dulles grew from 10 million in 1990 to 27 million in 2005.
The project will be paid for through the sale of bonds — which will be paid off by airlines — and a federal ticket tax, said Hamilton.
The airport also plans to expand the crowded security screening area, which often creates a choke-point at the main entrance of the facility.
The tunnel system isn’t the only rail project slated to hit Dulles in the coming years; the airport will also become one of the final stops of a massive $4 billion extension of Metrorail.
