Unlike any other urban rail system in the
country, AirTrain JFK is designed to serve and support a single
facility: New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The total system length is just over eight miles, and the AirTrain
network consists
of three lines. Two services connect with Queens transportation
centers at Howard Beach and Jamaica. The third loops through the terminal area
of the airport.
AirTrain technology is similar to that of Vancouver's SkyTrain, and the
fully-automated cars,
built by Bombardier,
are very much like the newer model used on that Canadian system.
AirTrain is probably borderline between "light rail"
and "heavy rail." The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
which operates AirTrain JFK (as well as PATH), calls it "light," and at
least for now these pages will also classify it as such.
In this photo the generous rear window of a clockwise-running "Inner
Loop" train allows for a view of the front portion of a train going
the other way, bound for either Jamaica Station or Howard Beach. |
