AeroTrain is a underground

automated people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

system at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States.

Description

The AeroTrain transports passengers between the Main Terminal Building and Concourses A, B, and C. From the Main Terminal Station, trains travel to Concourse A and Concourse C in one direction, and to Concourse B in the other direction. The track map for AeroTrain is shaped like a fishhook, with the Main Terminal Station at the bottom. The AeroTrain runs four trains consisting of three cars from 5:00 AM to around 3:00 PM, after which seven three-car trains run from 3:00 PM until 11:00 PM. From midnight to 5 AM, there are usually two three-car trains – although there is only a single three-car train. There is supposed to be a maximum headway of two minutes between trains. The trains transport passengers to the concourses in about two minutes, at ; the mobile lounges travel about . The AeroTrain is equipped with

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

SelTrac SelTrac is a digital railway signalling technology used to automatically control the movements of rail vehicles. It was the first fully automatic moving-block signalling system to be commercially implemented. SelTrac was originally developed ...

Communications-based train control Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accura ...

(CBTC)

moving block In railway signalling, a moving block is a signalling block system where the blocks are defined in real time by computers as safe zones around each train. This requires both knowledge of the exact location and speed of all trains at any given t ...

signaling system. The AeroTrain utilizes 29

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

Crystal Mover vehicles as its rolling stock.

History

The AeroTrain system was scheduled to open in fall 2009, but was delayed until 2010 in order to complete reliability tests. It opened to Dulles employees on January 20, 2010, and to passengers on January 26, 2010. The system mostly replaced the

mobile lounge A mobile lounge is an elevated bus-like vehicle used for boarding and disembarking from aircraft, or for transportation between terminal buildings at an airport. Purpose The mobile lounge was an innovative feature of the Washington Dulles termi ...

s which transport passengers from the concourses to the Main Terminal. The system cost about $1.4 billion, and the project also included the construction of a new security screening mezzanine. Since the existing Concourse C/D (built in 1985 and renovated in 2006 to extend its life for 8-10 more years) is a temporary concourse, the Concourse C station has been built at the site of the future permanent Concourse C/D, and is connected to the existing concourse by an underground walkway.

Future

There are plans for future expansion of the system. The AeroTrain can be expanded to include stations for the future Concourse D, two stations for an additional midfield Concourse (Concourses E and F), and a South Terminal. Once fully built out, the trains will run in a two-way loop around the airside of the airport.

Gallery

References

External links

Dulles International Airport Homepage
{{Transit In DC Airport people mover systems in the United States Crystal Mover people movers Railway lines opened in 2010 Dulles International Airport 2010 establishments in Virginia