Like many travelers, Tom Hoen of Baltimore dreams of racing to the airport aboard a fast train.
His reality: crawling to the airport aboard a slow trolley.
Extended to Baltimore-Washington International Airport a couple of years ago, Baltimore’s airport trolley lumbers through city streets, mixes with traffic and waits at sections of single track for trains traveling in the opposite direction to pass.
Hoen, a vice president of BT Alex. Brown, could drive from his house to the airport in half an hour but prefers public transportation, which can take almost twice as long. “It’s hardly a bullet train,” he says.
Hoen’s frustration is common among passengers of the nation’s airport rail links. “Compared to the potential, the American experience with air-rail links has often been quite disappointing,” says Matthew Coogan, a transportation consultant in White River Junction, Vt., and a former undersecretary of transportation in Massachusetts. “Many of the systems have been cobbled together and fail to deal with the unique needs of air travelers.”
Most airports were built in areas far from downtown and were easily reached by new highways. But the surge in air travel, airport expansions and urban sprawl changed that, resulting in clogged roads to, from and within the airports and putting airport parking at a premium. Increasingly, travelers have to park at satellite lots and board shuttles to the terminals.
The rail links were envisioned as an antidote for that, but that hasn’t been the case often. Many systems follow indirect routes, share tracks with local trains or require a switch to another train or bus.
In Boston, for example, travelers have to board a bus between the subway station and airport terminals.
Few systems provide for luggage. And some airports that derive revenue from parking lots do little to encourage the links. So, the trains often tap less than 5 percent of the market of travelers going to or from airports.
“Most people would think a rail link to the airport is a great idea,” says David Gunn, who heads Toronto’s transit system and ran transit systems in Philadelphia, New York and Washington. “But it’s very difficult to make it work.”
Proponents insist that airport trains are often faster than autos and cabs, especially when highways are jammed. And the trains are economical, with fares ranging from $1.50 to $5 a ride, compared with $25 or more for a taxi.
To demonstrate the potential of air-rail links, transit planners point to systems in London and Hong Kong, which include features such as airline counters at downtown train stations, non-stop service and luggage racks on the trains.
Among U.S. systems, the one linking Washington, D.C., and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is considered among the most effective. Travelers used to complain about having to walk more than 1,000 feet through parking lots from the terminal to the train station. But in 1997, a new airline terminal serving most carriers was completed adjacent to the station, making the connection between plane and train among the most convenient in the country.
The Washington system also boasts frequent trains and an extensive rail network to downtown locations.
“It has them all beat,” Ken Bird, a manager at an industrial-controls company in Illinois, says of Washington’s airport trains. “You can walk right from the plane to the train and get a clean, quiet and fast ride downtown.”
The system linking Chicago with O’Hare International Airport also wins praise for its convenience, though it travels along a line used mainly by local riders, with frequent stops and crowded cars.
More typical is Philadelphia, where commuter trains were extended to the airport in 1985 but haven’t made much headway with the traveling public. For budgetary reasons, service is confined to one train every half hour. So travelers often wait longer for a train than the time it takes to drive downtown.
The Philadelphia system carries about 2,500 people a day to or from the airport–about a fifth of its capacity.
“Airline travelers are accustomed to stepping out to the curb and flagging a cab,” says Stephan Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Philadelphia’s transit system. “We haven’t been able to break that habit.”
That may change. Philadelphia Airport officials, who manage parking at the airport and gain revenue when people drive, haven’t promoted the trains. A separate authority operates the trains and collects fares.
But airport officials say they are encouraging more travelers to use the train to ease airport traffic congestion. The airport has added bigger signs directing travelers to the trains and is spending $8.5 million to build new passageways from the baggage-claim area to train platforms.
Despite the problems many cities have encountered with airport rail systems, New York; San Francisco; and Portland, Ore., are developing new links.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to spend $1.5 billion to build “Airtrain” to Kennedy International Airport are drawing fire, because they require passengers to change trains.
The Airtrain plan also has stirred opposition from airlines, which object to the port authority’s use of a $3-per-passenger airport departure tax. To qualify for the funds designed for airport improvements, the port authority plans to annex Airtrain’s track right of way and make it part of the airport.
Airtrain will take passengers to nearby rail stations, where travelers transfer to other trains.
“They are building a second-rate system that dumps you at a remote transit hub only 20 percent of the way to the center city,” says George Haikalis, a transportation consultant in New York.
Port authority officials say the system will be cheaper, faster and more reliable to and from Manhattan than cabs. They dismiss concerns about changing trains.
“How are you going to make something perfect for 8 million people who don’t live in one place?” asks port authority spokesman Mark Hatfield. “We are trying to create the best system that serves the most people.”
Meanwhile, improvements to other systems are on the way. Atlanta wants to install a baggage drop-off counter at the airport train station.
And in Baltimore, transit officials say they are addressing the delays and plan to install special signals to give trolleys priority over cars and buses.
Baltimore also has considered making space available on its trolleys for luggage. But Wayne Jubb, a deputy director of Baltimore’s transit system, says there’s no rush: Trolleys to and from the airport are 70 percent empty. “There’s plenty of room on those vehicles, even if people set the luggage behind them,” Jubb says.
