The Plane Train is an automated people mover system operating in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The system is the world's most heavily traveled APM system, with a ridership of 64,000,000 people in 2002. The APM was designed to quickly transport passengers between Atlanta Airport's Main Terminal and the six airside concourses, which include major hubs for both Delta Air Lines and AirTran Airways.
Originally not having an official name, on August 10, 2010, the automated people mover was named "The Plane Train."
History
| The Plane Train opened along with the current airport terminal on September 21, 1980. The system was jointly built by Westinghouse and Adtranz, and originally used a fleet of Adtranz C-100 vehicles. |
In September 1994, the Atlanta Airport opened Concourse E, the international terminal. Concourse E was constructed in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were held in Atlanta. As part of the addition of Concourse E, the APM was extended beyond Concourse D to include the new concourse, and trains were extended from three cars to four.
In 2002, Bombardier Transportation (who had just recently acquired Adtranz) replaced the system's original C-100 vehicles with all new Bombardier Innovia APM 100 (formerly CX-100) vehicles. There are currently 49 Innovia APM 100 vehicles operating in the system's fleet.
Layout and Operation
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| Concourse T Station |
The Plane Train, commonly called the concourse shuttle, is located within the secure area of the airport. The system consists of seven stations, one at each of Concourses A, B, C, D, and E, and two in the Main Terminal - one at Concourse T which is also the station for departing passengers heading to Concourses A-E, and one for arriving passengers heading to Baggage Claim and Ground Transportation. The APM uses two tunnels that run beneath the centers of the concourse buildings, with one tunnel for each direction.
Each station is equipped with platform edge doors. LCD televisions, which are located above the doors, display the destination of the trains arriving at each platform, the time of arrival for the next train, and even current weather conditions. Before a train departs, the LCD screens flash "Doors Closing," two red lights above each door flash alternately, a chime sounds, and a recorded voice states, "Careful, doors are closing and will not re-open. Please wait for the next train."
The Denver International Airport Automated Guideway Transit System, which was built in 1994, was designed nearly identically to The Plane Train, since the layout of Denver International Airport is modeled after the Atlanta Airport.
The Voice
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| The interior of the system's tunnel |
Inside the trains, a pre-recorded female voice announces station information and warns passengers of the train's movements. The voice uses the NATO phonetic alphabet to identify each concourse station. For example, the message announcing Concourse B says: "The next station is Concourse B. Concourse B, as in 'Bravo'." (This line was sampled at the beginning of the title track to Relient K's 2009 release Forget and Not Slow Down.) The one exception to this is Concourse D, which is identified by "David" rather than "Delta" to avoid confusion with Delta Air Lines, which operates its main hub at the Atlanta Airport. For the same reason, the Air Traffic Control Tower at Atlanta regularly uses "Dixie" as the spoken form of the letter D. Concourse D is primarily used for airlines other than Delta. The female voice also states other lines, such as," Please hold on, this train is stopping," or, "Please hold on, this train is departing."
Prior to 1995, the trains featured a computerized male voice. The original voice was later replaced with a recorded male voice when Concourse E opened in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics. When the new Innovia APM 100 vehicles were introduced in 2002, a different male voice was introduced. The current female voice was introduced in 2006, along with the use of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (with the exception of 'D' as noted above).
While a female voice is used inside the trains, the male voice from 1996-2002 is still used in the stations to alert passengers when the doors close, by stating, " Careful. Doors are closing and will not reopen. Please wait for the next train," after a chime plays. Also, the male voice from 2002-2006 is still used to deliver a "Welcome to Atlanta" message in the Concourse E station.
Future
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is currently in the process of adding a second concourse and terminal for international flights (Concourse F), also known as the East International terminal or, formally, the Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. International Terminal. The current APM will be extended beyond Concourse E to connect to the new Jackson Terminal. The new terminal is scheduled to be open in April 2012.
An additional APM line is also being considered, connecting the main terminal to the proposed South Gate Complex, consisting of 70 gates. Since the South Gate Complex is currently only a proposal, no construction has taken place and details of the APM's configuration and whether it would be behind or outside of the security perimeter are unknown.
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