"Airports Without Runways"

Friday, August 1, 2003

Frankfurt, Germany to Southern California
Airports Without Runways
By Tom Hawley
KVBC-TV Ch 3 NBC, Las Vegas (NV)


Tired of long lines at overcrowded airports?  Airlines that don't service
the airports you want to go to?

There is a plan in the works that would help solve both those problems.
It's called "Airports Without Runways".   In the long term it would link
McCarran with the proposed Ivanpah airport in Primm.  In just a few years it
might make your commute to Los Angeles much easier.  And in Frankfurt,
Germany, it's being done right now.

Robert Payne is a spokesman for Frankfurt International Airport, or
"Fraport".

"High speed services are the latest addition to what we've been doing here
at Frankfurt Airport with air rail services," says Payne.  "Meshing them
together into very efficient transportation network."

Fraport utilizes the 150 MPH Inner City Express, or "ICE Train".  At Ivanpah
and in Southern California, the proposed 250 MPH Maglev is an option to get
people from busy airports to the ones that are under used.  

Peggy Ducey is spearheading the project here in the U.S., as a consultant to
the California Nevada Superspeed Train Commission.   She says the pieces
started coming together after a trip to Germany.

"Finding Frankfurt Airport had actually already kind of implemented the
idea.  And then coming back and finding the Cal-Nevada project that was
perfectly aligned with the route we needed and everything else."

The "Airports Without Runways" program would proceed at the same time as the
interstate Maglev, which would start on the Nevada side.

"It is complimentary, but a different goal and a different objective,"
explains Ducey.  "The Anaheim to Las Vegas train route is about moving
tourists between the two tourism capitals in the United States.  And also
about moving commuters and other travelers on that train.  This is
specifically about dealing with the aviation problem we're facing in
Southern California."

The concept has proven successful in easing air congestion in Germany's
heavily populated Rhine-Ruhr region.

"From Frankfurt airport to downtown Cologne, for example, the rail time has
been sliced in half to under one hour," says Payne.  "This is a significant
improvement, makes high speed rail, especially on short haul routes very
attractive."

The key to the concept is convenience.  You get off a plane...here comes a
train.  Next thing you know, you're at another airport.  Peggy Ducey tells
how it would work for someone flying into the system.

"If I am coming to Southern California and I make reservations to  come into
Orange County.  Then my train travel path would  include not only air but
ground transportation with the Maglev system that would get me ultimately to
Orange County."

That plan is in some ways the reverse of what's being done in Frankfurt.

"We are using high speed rail as a feeder network into a global hub,"
clarifies Payne.  "They want to develop Ontario airport as a secondary hub
to LAX."

Ducey hopes the end result would also help bring some major airlines into
the smaller airports.

"By moving passengers by rail and linking two different aviation
markets--the Orange County market and the Inland Empire market in Southern
California--you're linking aviation markets and you're creating a much
larger market for air carriers then to invest."

Which doesn't mean it is just about Southern California.

"I also see some great benefits for Las Vegas, as well," adds Ducey.
"Because ultimately when that entire route is completed, what you're going
to do is be able to offload some passengers from air onto rail."

The McCarran to Ivanpah connection is still a good decade away.  But high
speed rail between California airports could be a reality by 2007. 

Attached Photo's:

Fraport Rail Terminal

ICE Train

Proposed Ivanpah Airport

CA-NV Maglev Corridor

Maglev Train (from Shanghai)

1384633_BG1.jpg

1384633_BG2.jpg

1384633_BG3.jpg

1384633_BG4.jpg

1384633_BG5.jpg