Dulles Airport Gets Acquainted With New Train System
Dave BondDulles Airport previews its $1.5B AeroTrain system; train will replace unique mobile lounges
After a decade of planning and almost eight years of tunneling, the $1.5 billion train system designed to accelerate the passenger experience at Washington Dulles International Airport has been introduced to passengers.
The airport’s own subway, called AeroTrain, made its debut this week and replaces the previous system; the unique and bulky “mobile lounges” which were used to shuttled travellers from the airport’s main terminal to the various gates since the facility opened its doors to the public in 1962.
The mobile lounges won’t be completely decommissioned as they will still be used for the international arrivals and at Dulles’ “D” gates for some time in the foreseeable future.
The AeroTrain has been specifically designed to accommodate future growth at the facility. Dulles is one of United hubs as well as being the most important in size of the three airports catering the greater Washington area.
Train planners have kept track of the airport’s expansion projects as the tracks follown the foreseen extension of the “C” gates.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority director Jim Bennett said during a preview tour that the AeroTrain is in line with Dulles’ future.
The $1.5 billion train is basically the final phase of a capital improvement program begun ten years ago and worth more than $3 billion. The project includes a new control tower, a fourth runway, two new parking garages, and a series of moving walkways that carry travellers from the terminal to gates “A” and “B” as option to the train.
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Filed under Travel News, World News