| Vought Airtrans | |
|---|---|
 Vought Airtrans passenger vehicle in operation at DFW International Airport | |
| Overview | |
| Locale | Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Texas |
| Transit type | People mover |
| Number of stations | 33 |
| Daily ridership | 250 million over lifetime |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | January, 1974 |
| Operator(s) | Dallas/Fort Worth Airport |
| Number of vehicles | 68 |
| Train length | 21 feet (6.40 m) per vehicle |
| Headway | 165 feet (50.3 m) |
| Technical | |
| System length | 15 mi (24.14 km) |
| Top speed | 17 mph (27 km/h) |
LTV's (Vought) Airtrans was an automated people mover system that operated at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport between 1974 and 2005. The adaptable people mover was utilized for several separate systems: the Airport Train, Employee Train, American Airlines TrAAin and utility service. All systems utilized the same guideways and vehicle base but served different stations to create various routes.
After 30 years of service the system's 1970s technology was no longer adequate for the expanding airport's needs, and in 2005 it was replaced by the current Skylink system. While most of the system was auctioned and sold for scrap, some guideways and stations (some of which are still open to the public) remain. Airtrans moved nearly 5 million people in its first year of operation; by the end of its life it had served over 250 million passengers.[1][2]
Airtrans technology was expected to be deployed in similar mass transit systems around the US. In Japan, the system was licensed by a consortium formed between Niigata Engineering and Sumitomo Corporation for similar deployments there.[3] Niigata Engineering has since supplied this technology for urban people mover systems such as Osaka's Nankō Port Town Line, Hiroshima's Astram Line and Tokyo's Yurikamome. [4] Car #25 was donated to the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas, and Cars #30 and #82 were donated to North Texas Historic Transportation in Fort Worth, Texas.[5][6]
- ^ The demonstration of automated guideway transit for accelerated urban deployment. by LTV Corporation. 1975
- ^ "DFW News" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ AGT 1975, pg. 47
- ^ Vuchic, Vukan (16 February 2007). Urban Transit: Systems and Technology. Wiley (published 2007). ISBN 978-0471758235.
- ^ "Frontiers of Flight"
- ^ "Equipment Roster". North Texas Historic Transportation. Retrieved August 24, 2010.