Airport Rail Links - A Post Audit
Abstract
Interest in airport access improvement arises from such issues as road congestion on airport approaches and along the route to the city, traffic and environmental impacts on local residents, government transport policies and the economic effects of poor airport accessibility.
Rail access offers a potential contribution to these issues and my aim in the paper is to discuss some of the complexities of airport rail access planning: the conflicting interests of diverse stakeholders, the high costs of rail access provision and the market for rail services. I draw on a range of airport examples in USA, Europe and Asia, illustrating the Australian issues by reference to Melbourne.
My background in surface access is as a consultant since the late 1980s to UK Department of Transport and BAA on surface access at Heathrow airport. I prepared the forecasts for the Heathrow Express rail link (HEx), was an expert witness on surface access mode shares at the Heathrow Terminal 5 public inquiry and am currently working on rail access proposals to the two main Scottish airports: Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Author
David Ashley
Sinclair Knight Merz