RSSAeroTrain at Dulles Airport scheduled to open in January
Testing delays had pushed back original opening date, system on track to open in January
The new internal train system at Washington Dulles International Airport has cleared a final testing hurdle and is on track to open to passengers in January.
The automated rubber-wheeled trains travel on concrete tracks through underground tunnels between most of the airport's terminals and will greatly reduce the time it takes to get around the airport. It will take about 72 seconds to go from one terminal to another on the new AeroTrain system, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority President and CEO Jim Bennett told the Times in a 2006 article, compared to two to four minutes on the current "mobile lounges."
The airport's iconic mobile lounges, large bus-like vehicles that travel aboveground, will not be going away entirely, airports authority spokesman Rob Yingling said.
The AeroTrain will be the primary method of travel between the main terminal and the A, B and C gates, but the mobile lounges will still be used to go to the D gates and in a few other situations, Yingling said.
The system was supposed to open in late 2009, but testing delays slowed the opening. Construction on the $1.4 billion train system, which began in 2006, was completed on time, according to Yingling.
Final tests were completed Dec. 1, Yingling said. At an airports authority board meeting the next day, Bennett said he expects the system will be ready to open to the public sometime in January.
Airports authority staff are still working out some details with airlines and other partners at the airport before an opening date is announced, Yingling said.