The port authorty may vote Thusday to study scrapping the Newark airport monorail. Vote will be to have a study to replace it with one of several options including the Path train. The present monorail is outside the airport sterile area. Replacement of monorail needs to get any inter terminal connecting passengers away from having to deal with any TSA mess. Hated it.
Having been based at Newark for several years became very disappointed with the operation of the monorail and did get stranded a couple times due to some kind of failure but never more than 30 minutes. The operation of the switches were quite a complicated operation. Combination of electrical, mechanical and Hydraulic operation.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/newark_airport_monorail_targeted_for_scrap_heap_cost_354m_to_build.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured
The Newark Airport Monrail at last ride would not serve airfans or workers to the Airport you had to have a valid airport ticket...It would not also serve the Oak Island Neighboorhood or andy of the hoods around the airport as the NJ transit/Newark Monorail/Amtrak has no outside connection to the outside world outside the station.
Moral of the story: "Never send concrete and rubber to do steel's job."
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
blue streak 1The port authorty may vote Thusday to study scrapping the Newark airport monorail. Vote will be to have a study to replace it with one of several options including the Path train. The present monorail is outside the airport sterile area. Replacement of monorail needs to get any inter terminal connecting passengers away from having to deal with any TSA mess. Hated it.
It sounds like the monorail is very successful and that it needs improvements and expansion, possibly replacing it with something similar or that has more room for growth.
Doesn't the article say there are plans to expand PATH down to the airport railway station on the Northeast corridor not replace the monorail w/ PATH.
Since we live near New Brunswick, we've found it very convenient to use the monorail and train to get home from the airport (when time schedules are less critical).
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
trackrat888 The Newark Airport Monrail at last ride would not serve airfans or workers to the Airport you had to have a valid airport ticket...
The Newark Airport Monrail at last ride would not serve airfans or workers to the Airport you had to have a valid airport ticket...
What, pray tell, is a "valid airport ticket"? When I go to any airport, I never have to purchase a ticket to get on the grounds. It's however highly recommended to have a plane ticket if one is planning on flying out of or into said airport. But in many times of using the monorail at Newark, I have never been asked to show my plane ticket.
The monorail is totally free inside the airport. Only if I ride to the train station do I need to use a ticket (my NJ Transit or Amtrak ticket) to get through. Tickets to the airport station include an extra fee for the monorail.
According to Newark Liberty International Airport's website, the monorail fee is not charged for monthly passes with the airport as origin or destination. So it seems nothing would stand in the way of airport workers using NJ Transit and the monorail to get to work (though I haven't tried commuting there myself).
I remember it being free and pretty convenient. That was back in 02 though.
Have fun with your trains
The EWR monorail is very long in the tooth. They expanded it around 2001 with the terminal expansion and the expansion of the Amtrak/NJT station. It needs replacing and since it's more or less a one-off it's likely it would be replaced entirely with the modern driverless two-rail, rubber tire system like at Dulles and Denver. It wasn't popular with passengers, either. I'd ask folks about it and they'd laugh about how bad it is, and this was as early as the 1990s.
One nagging question often asked was why the PATH train doesn't serve the terminal directly.
blue streak 1The present monorail is outside the airport sterile area.
LAX is having to deal with the same issues. The future "LAX train" will only connect the terminal complexes with the bus terminal, parking lots, rental car lots and the Metro light rail line now being built: http://connectinglax.com/
Due to the very high volume, at this time airline passengers will not be required to use the people mover for access. Over 50% of departing passengers drive (presumably through the terminal loop) for drop off. The arrival 'cell phone' waiting area remains quite small.
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