Dulles Airport Subway

Don't worry, New York New Jersey Port Authority did the same too with a People mover at JFK and a Monorail at Newark International. They could have extended the Path to Newark for a One seat ride from the Airport to either midtown or Downtown NYC!

Umm. You do realize that the line connecting the terminals is on the "cleared side" of airport security and that it's isolation is on purpose. It replaced the "mobile lounge" vehicles that one used to ride from terminal to terminal. 

Greg Nagy posted:

Umm. You do realize that the line connecting the terminals is on the "cleared side" of airport security and that it's isolation is on purpose. It replaced the "mobile lounge" vehicles that one used to ride from terminal to terminal. 

Apparently he doesn't have any understanding of the logistics of how the airport is arranged.

And, the system he's referring to is not new and has been in place for several years.

I'm beyond confused. The Metro goes to the airport from DC. It is supposed to be done in 2019. The stupid decision there was to put the station on the face of the parking garage, 300 yards from the terminal. It appears as though they're going to connect it to the existing pedestrian tunnel that goes under the short term parking lot.  It was deemed too expensive to build the Metro station under the terminal where it would have made sense. It cant be built above ground near the terminal because the terminal building itself is a registered landmark.

The Airport train is behind the security check point and takes you from the main terminal building to the departure gates. It has been open for years. Terminals A B and C are serviced by the airtrain. If you have a D gate flight (United) you still need to take one of the old Budd mobile lounges. Its really not that big of a deal.  The trip to immigration and customs is also handled by the mobile lounges. Also not that big of a deal. 

The metro and the airtrain do not connect to one another. You need to check in and clear security between them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjZNuusmaZY

I have no issue with the Dulles Airport Aerotrain "rubber tired" terminal subway that opened a few years ago.   It does a great job replacing the Budd mobile lounges that were slow and subject to weather delays.   Since the Aerotrain is purely a underground system no weather related delays.  Light subway cars that roll on tires means no rails or associated track maintenance.  The Aerotrain cars tires are maintained off the mainline which does not affect service like steel track work.   The DC metro system runs above, on and below ground.   As such it uses a more conventional steel rail track.   Also the cars are much heavier due to their higher passenger loads.   Steel rails are optimal for all weather subway operations but they require periodic maintenance.   Over its 40 year life the DC Metro system has put off track maintenance so much that now many lines are subject to delays due to scheduled and unscheduled track repairs.  That said I'm looking forward to the opening of the Metro Silver line extension to and beyond Dulles Airport.

AeroTrain is a 3.78-mile which opened to passengers January 26, 2010. The system cost about $1.4 billion and also includes a new security screening mezzanine.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroTrain_(Washington_Dulles_International_Airport)