How Long To Change Planes In Atlanta

Airside people mover at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The Aeroplane Railroad train

Concourse A eastbound platform in 2011

Overview

Locale

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Termini

Domestic Final
International Terminal

Stations

Service

Blazon

People mover

Rolling stock

59 × Bombardier CX-100

Daily ridership

200,000^[1]

History

Opened

September 21, 1980 (1980-09-21)

Technical

Line length

2.viii mi (4.5 km)

Grapheme

Underground

Road map

Legend

F gates/

International terminal

Maintenance facility

E gates

D gates

C gates

B gates

A gates

T gates

The Plane Train

Domestic terminal

Airport station

ATL SkyTrain

I-85

GICC/

Gateway Centre hotels

Rental car eye

Maintenance facility

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The Plane Train is an automated people mover (APM) at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airdrome that transports passengers between the terminals and the airside concourses. The system is the world's most heavily traveled airdrome APM, with 64 1000000 riders equally of 2002^[update].^[ii]

System performance [edit]

The interior of the system's tunnel

The Plane Train operates underground in two tunnels bracketing a pedestrian walkway in the airport's Transportation Mall. The system has eight stations that are all inside the secure area of the aerodrome, one at each of Concourses A, B, C, D, E, and F (International Terminal), and two in the Domestic Terminal – i at Concourse T, which is as well the station for passengers from the Domestic Final heading to Concourses A–F, and ane at the domestic baggage claim and footing transportation. The system operates with 11 4-car trains during summit periods.^[3]

The Domestic Baggage Claim and Concourses T, E, and F stations have island platforms shared betwixt the 2 tunnels, while Concourses A, B, C and D stations have each separate platforms servicing each tunnel. The platforms have Platform screen doors, all of which have a fix of red lights that flash alternately to warn that the doors are closing, a feature present since the 1980s.

Trains run in the tunnels in a pinched-loop configuration.^[4] The eastward end of the line is Concourse F / International Final. During top hours, the trains volition end at the eastbound side of the platform, unload, so proceed further to a cross-over track to render to the westbound side of the platform. During off-summit hours, trains cantankerous-over prior to reaching the platform and get in/depart from the westbound Concourse F platform. At the west end, trains apply a cross-over rails between Domestic Last and Concourse T stations to switch tunnels. The system has two maintenance workshops: ane at concourse Eastward and another at Concourse F.^[5]

Since the railroad train operates inside the secure area of the drome, arriving passengers ending their journeys at the International terminal cannot employ the railroad train and must instead take a lengthy basis transportation detour around the perimeter of the airport to access facilities such as the car rental middle or MARTA station. (Parting international passengers inbound the International Last may apply the train to access Concourse E or the other concourses.)^[vi]

Platform data display at Concourse T since 2016

On the platforms and inside the trains, colour video displays provide arrangement information in 8 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Standard arabic, and Korean) too equally information about dining and shopping options in the concourses. Platform displays announce the time of arrival for the next train and its destination.

Aural announcements deliver station information and warn passengers of the train's movements. The messages apply the NATO phonetic alphabet to identify each concourse station. For instance, the message announcing Concourse B says:

The next stop is for B Gates. B, as in Bravo.

The ane exception to this is Concourse D, which uses the APCO radiotelephony spelling alphabet where "David" is used rather than "Delta" to avert confusion with Delta Air Lines, which operates its principal hub at ATL.

History [edit]

Concourse C eastbound platform in 2011

The airport began planning the current terminal facility in the late 1960s. A people mover system had always been in the plan to transport passengers over the facility'due south long distances, which included hubs for Delta Air Lines and the now-defunct Eastern Air Lines.^[7] ^[8]

An early design for the terminal included an e–west roadway system through the center of the complex. 16 terminals with perpendicular linear concourses would take existed along both sides of the roadway with an elevated people mover running in a loop connecting the terminals. This pattern, which was heavily influenced by Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, was scrapped since it was more than of a benefit to passengers originating in or terminating in Atlanta, and by then nearly 70% of traffic through the airport was connecting from ane flight to some other.^[8]

Past 1973, the terminal'due south design was revised to its current layout, which used a landside/airside design made popular by Tampa International Airport. The people mover would connect the landside final with parallel linear airside concourses with a stop at each concourse. Initially, the plan was for the people mover to connect the concourses in an exposed trench similar to the original AirTrans arrangement at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Bridges over the people mover would have connected the aircraft ramps on either side. In 1975, a winter storm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area brought that system to a stand-notwithstanding. Since Atlanta was vulnerable to like conditions, the design was changed to accept the people mover system fully undercover to protect it from the elements. This would also eliminate the need for taxiway bridges.^[eight]

Structure began on the current last facility in 1977. The terminal opened to the public on September 21, 1980, along with the Airplane Train (which did not take an official name at the time). The system was built by the Westinghouse Electrical Corporation, who supplied the arrangement's initial fleet of C-100 vehicles. The initial system consisted of the half dozen stations from the terminal (now the Domestic Terminal) up to Concourse D.^[9]

The 2011-2020 interior of i of the original C-100 vehicles

In 1994, the organization was extended with a new station for Concourse E (which was constructed for international flights in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics, which were held in Atlanta) and trains lengthened from 3 cars to 4.^[x] At the same time, large LED displays capable of showing eastern Asian CJK characters were added inside the vehicles to complement the original English text-only dot-matrix cerise-LED displays in preparation for more than international flights.

In 2001, Bombardier Transportation, who recently acquired the remains of Westinghouse's transportation partitioning after ownership out Adtranz, replaced some of the organization's original C-100 vehicles with new CX-100 vehicles. Two of the system's original vehicles (cars #one and #53) were then donated to the Southeastern Railway Museum in nearby Duluth, Georgia where they are currently on display.^[eleven]

Having operated without an official name since its opening, the arrangement was officially given its electric current name of "The Aeroplane Train" on Baronial ten, 2010. This follows the tendency of other airports naming their people mover systems.^[12]

In 2012, the Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. International Concluding and Concourse F opened forth with another extension of the Plane Train. Ten boosted vehicles were added to the system to accommodate this expansion, bringing the full number of Innovia APM 100 vehicles in the system's fleet to 59.^[13] The airport also recommissioned a few C-100 vehicles to keep more trains running.

Audio announcements [edit]

The audio announcements on the Plane Train take been delivered by many voices throughout its history. The first vocalisation on the trains was the phonation of local WSB-FM and WQXI radio personality Kelly McCoy. President Jimmy Carter, a Georgia native, was scheduled to tour the terminal earlier its opening and Westinghouse needed to go announcements recorded speedily to accept the system ready for the tour. Westinghouse reached out to McCoy to speedily record the announcements. McCoy's vocalisation remained on the train briefly afterward the airport opened, though airport officials felt his vocalism was likewise friendly and not getting people's attention.^[14]

Before long after opening, McCoy'southward voice was replaced by a monotone synthesized vox. Airport officials would nickname the vox "HAL" since it sounded similar the similarly named computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.^[15] ^[14]

When Concourse E opened in 1994, the synthesized voice was replaced by a pre-recorded voice. However, due to public outcry, the synthesized voice was chop-chop brought back and would remain for two more years. As the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta drew closer, the airport sought to again supplant the synthesized vox with a pre-recorded vocalization fearing that the influx of international travelers would have a hard fourth dimension understanding the synthesized vox. Past the fourth dimension the Olympics started, the airport again replaced the synthesized voice with a pre-recorded male person voice provided by local voice talent Bill Murray (not to be confused with actor/comedian Bill Murray). The 1996 recordings besides used chimes to precede the messages.^[16] ^[17]

A different pre-recorded male voice debuted inside the trains in 2002, a year after the new vehicles debuted on the arrangement. The 2002 recordings did not have chimes. Though, the "Conscientious ! Doors are closing" message and its associated chime from the 1996 recordings would continue to exist used on the platforms until the mid-2010s.^[eighteen]

In 2006, the system's first female person vocalisation debuted, which was provided by the voice of Susan Bennett. Susan is the phonation of Delta Air Lines gate boarding announcements at the airport and has since go famous for beingness the original voice of Siri on Apple products. The 2006 recordings were also the first to apply a radiotelegraphy alphabet to clarify the identification of the Concourse stations.^[19] ^[20]

The current announcements, which debuted in March 2012, are provided by voice actress Sharon Feingold,^[21] ^[22] who also provides those for the ATL SkyTrain. They are the first to no longer apply the word "Concourse", instead referring to the concourse stations with the word "Gates", east.g. "A Gates". They also added the name of the train, returned chimes, and added announcements for the International Terminal and Concourse F (which opened that year).

By the mid-2010s, the voice of Bill Murray (the 1996-2002 voice) was still in use in the stations (including the Concourse F station when information technology first opened) to alarm passengers when the doors close, stating:

"Conscientious ! Doors are closing and will not re-open. Please expect for the next railroad train."

This message was updated betwixt 2013 and 2015 with a new male voice and the same chime every bit the electric current in-vehicle chime.

See likewise [edit]

List of drome people mover systems

References [edit]

^ "ATL Fact Sheet". Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Drome. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
^ "Transportation Mall/People Mover". Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airdrome. Archived from the original on Feb 19, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2007.
^ "The Plane Train: Getting You lot There Since 1980". Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airdrome . Retrieved November 5, 2021.
^ Elliott, Dennis Chiliad.; Norton, Jack. "An Introduction To Airdrome Apm Systems". Wiley Online Library . Retrieved Nov 23, 2021.
^ "Atlanta Airport's Plane Train". YouTube . Retrieved Jan 28, 2022.
^ "Final Maps". Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport . Retrieved November 5, 2021.
^ "ATL's Domestic Final turns xl!". Delta Flying Museum . Retrieved November four, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "How Atlanta'due south Midfield Terminal could take looked completely different". Blueish Concourse: The Aerodrome History Blog . Retrieved November 4, 2021.
^ "ATLANTA'South MIDFIELD 1980-1981: THE Starting time FULL YEAR". Sunshine Skies . Retrieved November five, 2021.
^ "Airport History". Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Archived from the original on February 21, 2003. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
^ "Westinghouse C-100 Automatic People Mover". Southeastern Railway Museum . Retrieved November 5, 2021.
^ "Hartsfield people mover = The Plane Train". Atlanta Concern Chronicle. August ten, 2010. Retrieved Baronial 10, 2010.
^ "INNOVIA Automated People Mover System - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport". Bombardier Transportation. Archived from the original on May xxx, 2013. Retrieved February five, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "HAL, THE MYSTERIOUS ROBOT Vocalism OF ATLANTA Airport". Sunshine Skies . Retrieved December 2, 2021.
^ Audio of 1980-1996 recordings on The Plane Train (YouTube)
^ Video of The Plane Train with 1996-2002 recordings (YouTube)
^ https://web.annal.org/spider web/19970418120959/http://voiceovers.com/cv.html
^ Video of The Plane Train with 2002-2006 recordings (Flickr)
^ Video of The Plane Train with 2006-2012 recordings (YouTube)
^ "SUSAN C. BENNETT - VOICES & VOCALS". Archived from the original on Feb 20, 2012. Retrieved Apr ix, 2012.
^ "Sharon Feingold voiceovers". Voiceography . Retrieved April 28, 2015.
^ Liza Lucas (February eighteen, 2020). "Meet the vox of the 'plane train' at Atlanta'due south airport". 11 Alive. Retrieved September 8, 2021. But merely who is backside that "B as in Bravo" voice you lot hear while riding The Plane Railroad train? Atlanta's very own Sharon Feingold.