Houston IAH Airport Inter-Terminal Train Alternatives Analysis Project

The inter-terminal train (ITT) at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston has been providing non-secure passenger service to all airport terminals and a hotel for over 35 years. The company that implemented the ITT no longer supports this technology. Most of the ITT subsystems have reached the end of their useful life, and many of the suppliers that designed and manufactured subsystems or components no longer produce replacement parts. The IAH inter-terminal train alternatives analysis project studied various alternatives to assist the Houston airport system (HAS) in determining the best way to extend the life of the ITT system and defining different options to maintain passenger service. The project team presented five alternatives to HAS: (1) abandon ITT and replace it with buses, (2) refurbish existing system, (3) replace existing system with moving walkways, (4) replace existing system with a new technology inside the existing ITT tunnel, and (5) replace existing system with a new elevated system that would run along South Terminal Road, with the option to extend the system to remote parking and the consolidated rental car facility in the future. The alternatives were compared in terms of operations and performance analysis, constructability, impacts to existing service, implementation schedule, and rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost analysis. This paper provides an overview of the five proposed alternatives that were presented in the Houston IAH ITT alternatives analysis project.