AirTrain JFK
AirTrain JFK is an elevated people mover system and airport rail link serving John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, New York, US. The driverless system operates 24/7 and consists of three lines and nine stations within the borough of Queens. It connects the airport's terminals with the New York City Subway at the Howard Beach station in the eponymous neighborhood, and with the Long Island Rail Road and the subway in the Jamaica neighborhood. Alstom operates AirTrain JFK under contract to the airport's operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
A railroad link to JFK Airport had been proposed since the 1940s. Various plans surfaced to build a JFK Airport rail connection until the 1990s, though these were not carried out because of a lack of funding. The JFK Express subway service and shuttle buses provided an unpopular transport system to and around JFK. In-depth planning for a dedicated transport system at JFK began in 1990 but was ultimately cut back from a direct rail link to an intra-borough people mover. Construction of the current people-mover system began in 1998. During construction, AirTrain JFK was the subject of several lawsuits, and an operator died during one of the system's test runs. The system opened on December 17, 2003, after many delays. Several improvements were proposed after the system's opening, including an unbuilt extension to Manhattan. AirTrain JFK originally had ten stations, but the Terminal 2 stop was closed in 2022.
All passengers entering or exiting at either Jamaica or Howard Beach must pay an $8.50 fare, while passengers traveling within the airport can ride for free. The system was originally projected to carry 4 million annual paying passengers and 8.4 million annual inter-terminal passengers every year. The AirTrain has consistently exceeded these projections since opening. In, the system carried a total of passengers, or about per weekday as of.
History
Plan for direct rail connection
Early plans
The first proposal for a direct rail link to JFK Airport was made in the mid-1940s, when a rail line was proposed for the median of the Van Wyck Expressway, connecting Midtown Manhattan with the airport. New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses, at the time an influential urban planner in the New York City area, refused to consider the idea. In 1968, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suggested extending the Long Island Rail Road to the airport as part of the Program for Action, an ambitious transportation expansion program for the New York City area. Ultimately, the rail link was canceled altogether due to the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975. Another proposal, made by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1987, called for a rail line to connect all of JFK Airport's terminals with a new $500 million transportation center. The Port Authority withdrew its plans in 1990 after airlines objected that they could not fund the proposal.In 1978, the MTA started operating the JFK Express, a premium-fare New York City Subway service that connected Midtown Manhattan to the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station. The route carried subway passengers to the Howard Beach station, where passengers would ride shuttle buses to the airport. The shuttle buses transported passengers between the different airport terminals within JFK's Central Terminal Area, as well as between Howard Beach and the terminals. The JFK Express service was unpopular with passengers because of its high cost, and because the buses often got stuck in traffic. The service was ultimately canceled in 1990.
1990s plans
By the 1990s, there was demand for a direct link between Midtown Manhattan and JFK Airport, which are apart by road. At the time, the airport was only served by two highways: the Belt Parkway and Van Wyck Expressway. During rush hour, the travel time from JFK to Manhattan could average up to 80 minutes by bus; during off-peak hours, a New York City taxi could make that journey in 45 minutes, while a bus could cover the same distance in an hour. The Port Authority, foreseeing economic growth for the New York City area and increased air traffic at JFK, began planning for a direct rail link from the airport to Manhattan. In 1991, the Port Authority introduced a Passenger Facility Charge, a $3 tax on every passenger departing from JFK, which would provide $120 million annually.In 1990, the MTA proposed a $1.6 billion rail link to LaGuardia and JFK airports, which would be funded jointly by federal, state, and city government agencies. The rail line was to begin in Midtown Manhattan, crossing the East River into Queens via the Queensboro Bridge. It would travel to LaGuardia Airport, then make two additional stops at Shea Stadium and Jamaica before proceeding to JFK. After the Port Authority found that the ridership demand might not justify the cost of the rail link, the MTA downgraded the project's priority. The proposal was supported by governor Mario Cuomo and Queens borough president Claire Shulman. The transport advocacy group Regional Plan Association called the plan "misguided", and the East Side Coalition on Airport Access's executive director said, "We are going to end up with another... uncompleted project in this city."
The Port Authority started reviewing blueprints for the JFK rail link in 1992. At the time, it was thought that the link could be partially open within six years. In 1994, the Port Authority set aside $40 million for engineering and marketing of the new line, and created an environmental impact statement. The project's budget had grown to $2.6 billion by that year. The EIS, conducted by the New York State Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, found the plan to be feasible, though the project attracted opposition from area residents and advocacy groups.
The project was to start in 1996, but there were disputes over where the Manhattan terminal should be located. The Port Authority had suggested the heavily trafficked corner of Lexington Avenue and 59th Street, though many nearby residents opposed the Manhattan terminal outright. The Port Authority did not consider a connection to the more-highly used Grand Central Terminal or Penn Station because such a connection would have been too expensive and complicated. To pay for the project, the Port Authority would charge a one-way ticket price of between $9 and $12. By February 1995, the cost of the planned link had increased to over $3 billion in the previous year alone. As a result, the Port Authority considered abridging the rail link plan, seeking federal and state funding, partnering with private investors, or terminating the line at a Queens subway station. The following month, the administration of governor George Pataki directed the Port Authority to devise and finalize revised plans for the JFK rail link.
Curtailment of plan
The direct rail connection between Manhattan, LaGuardia Airport, and JFK Airport was canceled outright in mid-1995. The plan had failed to become popular politically, as it would have involved increasing road tolls and PATH train fares to pay for the new link. In addition, the 1990s economic recession meant that there was little chance that the Port Authority could fund the project's rising price. Following the cancellation, the planned connection to JFK Airport was downsized to a monorail or people mover, which would travel between Howard Beach and the JFK terminals. The Port Authority initially proposed building a $827 million monorail, similar to AirTrain Newark at Newark Airport, which would open the following year. In August 1995, the FAA approved the Port Authority's request to use the PFC funds for the monorail plan. After the monorail was approved, the Port Authority hoped to begin construction in 1997 and open the line by 2002.The Port Authority voted to proceed with the scaled-down system in May 1996, and it simultaneously set aside $25 million for planning and engineering. The FAA had already given the Port Authority permission to collect PFC funds for the Howard Beach branch and the terminal section, but not for the branch to Jamaica. The Port Authority's final environmental impact statement for the JFK people mover, released in 1997, examined eight possibilities. Ultimately, the Port Authority opted for a light rail system with the qualities of a people mover, tentatively called the JFK Light Rail System. It would replace the shuttle buses and run to Jamaica and Howard Beach. The FEIS determined that an automated system with frequent headways was the best design. Although there would not be a direct connection to Manhattan, the Port Authority estimated it would halve travel time between JFK and Midtown, with the journey between JFK and Penn Station taking one hour. The New York Times wrote that 21 prior recommendations for direct rail links to New York-area airports had been canceled in the preceding 30 years, while the Engineering News-Record said 22 such proposals had failed.
The people mover system was one of several major projects proposed at JFK Airport during the late 1990s. Pataki supported the revised people-mover plan, but New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said the city would have to contribute $300 million, and that it was not a direct rail link from Manhattan, and thus would not be profitable because of the need to transfer from Jamaica. The Port Authority was originally planning to fund the project using $1.2 billion in PFC fees and $300 million in rental income. Giuliani wanted the Port Authority to study extending the Astoria elevated to LaGuardia Airport, as well as making the light rail system compatible with the subway or LIRR to allow possible future interoperability. By March 1997, five companies had expressed interest in building the system. The next month, Pataki agreed to provide $100 million to study a rail link to LaGuardia; in exchange, Giuliani and Shulman agreed to not oppose the JFK link. The Port Authority was reluctant to approve more than $5 million for the LaGuardia study.
Giuliani's continued opposition to the system delayed the project, and, if construction did not start by October, the project could lose $100 million worth of federal funds. Giuliani agreed to the plan in October 1997, when the state agreed to reimburse the city for its share of the system's cost. As part of the agreement, the state would also conduct a study on a similar train link to LaGuardia Airport. By that time, the Port Authority had collected $441 million in PFC funds. An artist's impression of the proposed people mover was presented to residents of southern Queens that November. Public reception was mixed. One civic leader in Jamaica was optimistic that the people mover would spur development in that neighborhood, and other supporters said it would benefit business and alleviate Van Wyck Expressway traffic in the long run. On the other hand, two community boards and several civic groups claimed the people mover would worsen traffic, and local newspaper Newsday criticized the proposal as being ineffective without a direct link to Manhattan, citing the failure of the JFK Express.