Hartly AirportLink
| File:Hartly Aerolink.png | |||||
 Waiting train at Terminal 2 station | |||||
| Overview | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main Region(s) | Hartly—Greater Talonée International Airport | ||||
| Fleet size | 42 cars, 7 locomotives | ||||
| Stations operated | 5 stations | ||||
| Route km operated | 7.2 km | ||||
| Parent company | Hartly Airport Authority | ||||
| Website | aeroport | ||||
| Technical | |||||
| Gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ½ in) | ||||
| Electrification | Third rail (750 V DC), guide bars | ||||
| Operating speed | 58 km/h (average) | ||||
| |||||
The Hartly AirportLink is a rapid transit system in Hartly, Ainin. It mainly serves Hartly—Greater Talonée International Airport, and offers a connection to the Hartly Metro at Place du Millénaire (Millennium Square) Station. Opened in 1972, the AirportLink predates the Métro's 1997 extension to the stations of Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 that gave the three terminals direct access to the Métro and later the Peripheral Rail. The AirportLink is the fastest way to travel between the terminals of Hartly's main international airport and provides the most direct access from the Airport Bus Terminal to the terminals themselves. A trip from Millennium Square to Terminal 1 roughly takes 14-16 minutes on the AirportLink.
The system is configured as a circle line within the airport boundaries, passing through the three passenger terminals (no rapid transit service is provided for Terminal 4, the cargo terminal). At one point in the loop, the line branches out to the Bus Terminal at the southwestern extremity of the airport grounds, before proceeding 1.8 km away from the airport to Place du Millénaire , an intermodal station with the Métro. A bit further down the line lies a balloon loop that allows trains to do a U-turn without stopping. Between Terminals 1 and 2 lies a service branch line that leads to the hangar and maintenance centre. The system is located overground for most of its path, but was built underground under Terminals 1 and 2 due to a lack of above-ground space to build tracks. This was not a problem for Terminal 3 because it was built at the same time as the AirportLink and was designed with the latter in mind.
Even after the extension of the Métro to the Airport, the AirportLink remains a very popular system, mostly owing to the fact that the Métro and Peripheral Rail do not have stations in or near the Bus Terminal. Exact ridership figures are not recorded since the system is free of charge and therefore does not have a way of keeping track of passengers.
History
Stations
- Place du Millénaire (transfer station to Hartly Metro Line 2)
- Airport Bus Terminal
- Terminal 3
- Terminal 2
- Terminal 1
Fare
The AirportLink, unlike the Metro, is free of charge. In 2003, the Hartly Airport Authority proposed a 0.85Ł fare per station for the AirportLink but the proposal was scrapped after fierce opposition from users of the system as well as criticism due to the lack of space to add ticket-selling machines and fencing inside the AirportLink stations.
The network's operation is funded by the co-owners of the Hartly Airport Authority, which are the city of Hartly and the government of Ainin. Hartly Transit also pays a small portion of the cost as payment for being allowed to extend the Métro into the airport's territory.
See Also
- Line 2 of the Hartly Metro
- Line B2 of the Peripheral Rail