Airport rail link: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia


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{{redirect|Airport Express Train}}

{{For|stations named "Airport"|Airport Station (disambiguation){{!}}Airport Station}}

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An '''airport rail link''' is a service providing passenger [[rail transport]] between an [[airport]] and a nearby city. Direct links operate straight from the [[airport terminal]] to the city, while other links require an intermediate use of a people mover or [[airport bus|shuttle bus]]. Advantages for the passenger include faster travel timetimes and easy connections with other public transport. Advantages whilstfor the airport benefitsinclude byincreased drawingpatronage inand moreenhanced passengersaccessibility for staff. Additionally, authorities have benefitted from less highway and parking [[traffic congestion|congestion]], less pollution, and more business opportunities.

==History==

Although airport rail links have been a popular solutionssolution in Europe and Japan for decades, only recently have links been constructed in North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, and the rest of Asia.

Some early examples of inter-city railway stations built to serve an airport include:

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!Station!!Country!!Opened!!Details

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|[[Don Mueang Stationrailway station|Don Mueang]]||Thailand||1898||Serves [[Don Mueang International Airport]], which opened for commercial flights in 1924

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|[[Schönefeld (bei Berlin) station|Schönefeld Flughafen(bei stationBerlin)]]||Germany||1951||Served [[Berlin Schönefeld Airport]], now serves [[Berlin Brandenburg Airport]]

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|[[Gatwick Airport railway station|Gatwick Airport]]||United Kingdom||1958||Rebuilt to directly serve [[Gatwick Airport]] in 1958

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|[[Brussels National Airport-Zaventem railway station|Brussels Airport-Zaventem]]||Belgium||1958||Serves [[Brussels Airport]]

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|[[Frankfurt Airport regional station|Frankfurt am Main Flughafen Regionalbahnhof]]||Germany||1972||One of two railway stations servingServes [[Frankfurt Airport]]

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The first rapid transit station to connect with an airport was theBerlin's [[Berlin U-Bahn|U-Bahn]]'s [[U6 (Berlin U-Bahn)|U6]] [[Paradestraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Paradestraße]] station which opened in 1927 as ''Flughafen'' (Airport{{lit|airport}}) and was built to provide direct access to [[Berlin Tempelhof Airport]]. However, the connection between Paradestraße and Tempelhof Airport was revokedremoved in 1937 and the preceding station [[Platz der Luftbrücke (Berlin U-Bahn)|Platz der Luftbrücke]] station was instead granted thatthe connection and remained so until Berlin Tempelhof Airport's closure in 2008.

Other early examples of rapid transit stations locatedconnecting atwith airports include theBoston's [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority|MBTA]] [[Blue Line (MBTA)|Blue Line]]'s [[Airport (MBTA station)|Airport station]] station which is situated at Boston's [[Logan International Airport]] and opened for service in 1952 and (rebuilt in 2004), and Cleveland's [[RTA Rapid Transit]] [[Red Line (Cleveland)|Red Line]]'s [[Airport station (GCRTA)|Cleveland Hopkins International Airport]] station]] which opened in 1968 and (rebuilt in 1994, although). ClevelandBoston's rapidlink transitrequires isa consideredshort theshuttle firstbus directtransfer airport-to-downtownfrom rapidthe transitstation line into the Westernairport Hemisphere.terminal, whilst BostonCleveland's Bluelink Lineis requires a short bus transfer fromconsidered the airportfirst raildirect stationservice toin the airportWestern terminalHemisphere.

==Connection types==

===High-speed rail and inter-city rail===

There areA high-speed andor inter-city railwayservice stations at some airports allowingprovides direct travel between thean airport and otherits surrounding cities. This solution usually requires the building of new track, whether it is a newly built [[Main line (railway)|main line]] or a [[Branch line|branch (spur) line]]. fromThese anservices existingoften mainhave linepremium fares, lower frequencies (e.g. every 30 minutes) and luxury features (e.g. luggage racks, power outlets, Wi-Fi, bathrooms).

Integration with [[High-speed rail|high-speed]] and [[Intercity rail|inter-city]] services has produced alliances where airlines sell [[air ticket]]stickets that include the connecting rail service. Parts of Europe have seen integration of [[high-speed rail]] stations into airports, with domestic and international [[TGV]] services from [[Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2Airport|Paris TGV]]Charles inde [[ParisGaulle Airport]] and [[InterCityExpress|ICE]] services from [[Frankfurt Airport long-distance station]]. Because of this, many airport railwaysome stations have received [[List of IATA-indexed railway stations|IATA codes]].

===Regional rail and commuter rail===

[[File:Leonardo express 01.jpg|thumb|[[Leonardo Express]], Rome]]

InA manyregional cases,or accesscommuter to"airport airportsexpress" isservice viaprovides adirect regionaltravel orbetween commuteran "airport express"and train to theits city centre. This solution is often used where the airport is outside the urban area and some way from the mass transit system, but a direct downtown service is required. There are various ways this can be doneachieved: it may operate on a combination of existing or newly built mainline rail track using a dedicated fleet of rolling stock designed for airport service. ThisSimilarly solutionsto often has the drawback of lower frequencies (e.g. twice per hour),high-speed and often charge a [[premium fare]] higher than otherinter-city services, butthese areservices more likely tooften have luxurypremium features such as [[luggage rack]]sfares, [[powerlower outlet]]s, [[Wi-Fi]],frequencies and [[Passengerluxury train toilet|washrooms]]features.

===Rapid transit===

[[File:Beijing Subway Airport Express 01.jpg|thumb|[[Capital Airport Express]], Beijing]]

For airports built within or close to the city limits, extending ana [[urbanrapid rail]]transit network like a metro or tram to the airport allows seamless transport to suburbs and full integration with other publiclines. transport,These andservices seamlessusually transporthave toa allhigher partsfrequency of town(e.g. Serviceevery frequency5 willminutes) bebut high, althoughlonger travel timetimes isdue a drawback asto the servicesservice makemaking many intermediate stops beforebetween reachingthe airport and the city centercentre. and thusAdditionally, there may not be enough space for the [[baggage]] commonly carried by airport-bound passengers. Furthermore, [[luggage]]Luggage stowing facilities are not commonly found on rapid transit vehicles as their primary objective is to provide high-capacity transportservice.

Some airports, such as [[Heathrow Airport]], are directly served by both commuter rail and rapid transit. In China, several airports are now directly served by both high-speed rail and rapid transit.

===Rail to people mover===

{{See also|People mover}}

[[File:JFK AirTrain 03.JPG|thumb|[[AirTrain JFK]], New York City]]

A hybrid solution adopted in some cities is a direct rail connectionlink to an airport trainrailway station instead ofconnected to thea airport[[people itselfmover]]. AtThe thepassenger airporttransfers train station,from the passengerrailway switchesstation to athe [[people mover]] thatwhich then completes the goesjourney to the airport terminalsterminal. While this option is commonly chosen to reduce construction costs, it is only feasible when a rail line is near the airport. Some airports, such as [[San Francisco International Airport]], are directly served by an airport rail link to some terminals but not others. In such cases, passengers using terminals that lack a direct connection must use a people mover to access their terminal. People movers typically also serve parking lots, and sometimes airport hotels and off-site [[car rental]] locationsfacilities. People movers are seen to have a higher perceived quality compared to a shuttle bus.

===Rail to shuttle bus===

{{See also|Airport bus}}

InAnother somehybrid cases, theresolution is noa traindirect stationlink directlyto at thean airport, usuallyrailway becausestation theconnected infrastructureto ona whichshuttle thebus. railThe servicepassenger operatestransfers makesfrom itthe impractical to build such arailway station. Whento this happens, athe shuttle bus iswhich usedthen to transport passengers betweencompletes the railwayjourney station andto the airport terminal. A shuttle bus doesrequires notno require specializedspecialised infrastructure to be built, and is often the preferred choice at smaller or low-cost airports. Shuttle buses may involve a wait for a transfer to the next stage of the journey and often suffer from a lower perceived quality. Thus theirand market sharesshare arecompared usuallyto lowerdirect connections.

==Current examples==

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===High-speed rail and inter-city rail===

[[File:RER-B at Charles de Gaulle.jpg|thumb|[[RER B]], Paris]]

Examples include [[Schiphol Airport railway station|Schipol Airport]] railway station to other Dutch cities, [[Zürich Airport railway station|ZurichZürich AirportFlughafen]] railway station to other Swiss cities, and [[Daxing Jichang (Daxing Airport) station|Daxing Airport]] railway station to other Chinese cities.

===Regional rail and commuter rail===

Examples include the [[RERNarita BExpress]] between [[AéroportNarita CharlesInternational de Gaulle 2 TGVAirport]] and [[ParisTokyo]], the [[KeiseiUnion Narita Airport Line]] and the [[NaritaPearson Express]] between [[NaritaToronto Pearson International Airport]] and Tokyo, the [[Union Pearson Express]] to [[Toronto Pearson International Airport]], and the [[Leonardo Express]] tobetween [[Rome Fiumicino Airport]],|Leonardo andda theVinci–Rome [[MalpensaFiumicino ExpressAirport]] toand [[Milan Malpensa AirportRome]].

===Rapid transit===

Examples include the [[MilanEast–West MetroMRT Line 4line|LineEast–West 4Line]] between [[LinateChangi Airport MRT station|Changi Airport]] station and [[Milan]]Singapore, the [[East–WestSilver MRTLine line(Washington Metro)|East-WestSilver Line]] between [[ChangiDulles International Airport station|Washington Dulles International Airport]] station and SingaporeWashington, D.C., and the [[SilverOrange Line (Washington MetroDART)|SilverOrange Line]] between [[DullesDFW InternationalAirport Terminal A station|DFW Airport Terminal A]] station and Washington, D.C.Dallas.

===Rail to people mover===

[[File:Düsseldorf - International (Rhein-Ruhr - Lohausen) (DUS - EDDL) AN0361464.jpg|thumb|[[H-Bahn|SkyTrain]], Dusseldorf]]

Examples include [[Soekarno-HattaSoekarno–Hatta International Airport]] via [[Soekarno–Hatta Airport Skytrain]] to/from [[SHIA railway station|Bandara Soekarno-Hatta International Airport]] railway station, [[London Luton Airport]] via [[Luton DART]] to/from [[Luton Airport Parkway railway station|Luton Airport Parkway]] railway station, and [[Orly Airport|Paris Orly Airport]] via [[Orlyval]] to/from [[Antony station|Antony]] railway station.

===Rail to shuttle bus===

Examples include [[Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport]] via shuttle bus to/from [[Zhengding Airport railway station|Zhengding Airport]] railway station, [[Salvador Bahia Airport]] via shuttle bus to/from [[Salvador Metro|Aeroporto]] railway station, and [[AucklandMilwaukee Mitchell International Airport]] via AirportLink shuttle bus to/from [[PuhinuiMilwaukee railwayAirport stationRailroad Station|PuhinuiMilwaukee Airport]] railway station.

==See also==

*[[Air-rail alliance]]

*[[Intermodal passenger transport]]

*[[List of IATA-indexed trainrailway stations]]

== References ==

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.heathrowexpress.com/ Heathrow Express]

* [http://www.airrailnews.com Articles about airport rail links on airrail NEWS]

{{Commercial air travel}}