IARO Upcoming Events - Brussels and Hong Kong
IARO’s forthcoming programme offers two important opportunities for members to meet, share expertise and promote airport-rail connectivity internationally.
The IARO 2026 Air-Rail Conference and Networking Meeting, hosted by Brussels Airport on 7-8 October, will combine site visits, presentations and panel discussions on high-speed rail connections, technology and systems integration, and airport design and development. Participation is free for IARO members, although advance registration is essential.
Registration Available HERE (www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/iaro-2026-member…)
IARO will then participate in Super Terminal Expo, Hong Kong, from 3-5 November. On Wednesday 4 November, IARO will organise a 90-minute Air-Rail Forum featuring presentations and a moderated panel discussion on airport-rail links. Members interested in speaking or joining the panel should contact Patrick at patrick@iaro.com (mailto:patrick@iaro.com) . IARO will also have an exhibition stand, available as a meeting point for members and stakeholders, helping raise the profile of airport-rail connectivity within the international airport and transport community.
New trains for Paris’ RER B Line
The suburban RER B connects central Paris with suburbs to the north and south of the capital, and gives access to both Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport. The line carries close to a million passengers each day.
By the end of 2028, a fleet of 146 new MI20 trains will be running on the line. They will be operated jointly by RATP and SNCF on behalf of Île-de-France Mobilités, and the purchase is part of a wider programme to modernise the RER B network - one of Europe’s busiest commuter rail services.
MI20, the future RER B train © Île-de-France Mobilités
The new double-deck trains will increase passenger capacity and improve accessibility and onboard facilities. The train will have 35% more overall capacity and 22% more seating compared with existing rolling stock. It includes step-free access areas, wide gangways and additional doors intended to improve passenger flow during boarding and alighting.
Interior features include air conditioning, underfloor heating, USB-C charging sockets and passenger information screens providing real-time updates. Onboard video surveillance systems with live transmission capability will also be installed.
MI20 interior © Île-de-France Mobilités
The introduction of the MI20 forms part of a €5 billion investment programme led by Île-de-France Mobilités for the RER B line. Approximately half of the funding has been allocated to the purchase of new MI20 trains (railway-news.com/caf-bombardier-consort…) . The remaining investment will support infrastructure upgrades, including a new joint operations control centre for the RER B and RER D lines and the deployment of the NExTEO automated train control system, which is intended to improve service regularity and operational management.
The arrival of the MI20 is part of a broader rolling stock renewal programme across the Île-de-France transport network. Since 2016, more than 1,500 new or refurbished trains, metro cars and trams have entered service across the region.
See IARO Express 596 for an earlier story of the train order.
MI 79 train – the present generation – at Paris Gare du Nord
Source Railway News (railway-news.com/paris-new-mi20-train-p… )
Plovdiv airport to have a rail connection
The second phase of the Plovdiv Railway Junction scheme in Bulgaria’s second-largest city is to include the construction of a 2.5km branch from the airport terminal to the existing station at Krumovo. The present line running south from Krumovo has a station at Mavrudovo, but on the wrong side of the airfield for the terminal.
Tendering is at an early stage: a contractor is being chosen for the design work. Total cost is estimated at 44m leva.
A 15 minute journey time is envisaged.
Source Railway Gazette International
Singapore Airlines launches hotel check-in and baggage drop
Singapore Airlines (aviationa2z.com/index.php/tag/singapore…) has introduced a new downtown check-in and baggage drop service for passengers. The initiative will allow eligible passengers to complete airport formalities at select city hotels before heading to the airport.
The service forms part of broader enhancements planned at Changi Airport, as authorities work to manage rising passenger demand ahead of Terminal 5’s expected opening in the mid-2030s. While most upgrades focus on back-end efficiency, this new offering directly targets passenger convenience within the city centre.
Singapore Airlines has started the trial downtown check-in service at three major hotels in Singapore - Marina Bay Sands, The Fullerton Hotel, and The Fullerton Bay Hotel. Passengers staying at these hotels will be able to check in for their flights and drop off their baggage before departing for the airport. This removes the need to carry luggage across the city, particularly for those with late departures after hotel check-out.
Travellers with evening or late-night flights often face logistical challenges after hotel check-out. With the downtown baggage drop, passengers can leave their luggage at the hotel and proceed directly to the airport later. This allows more flexibility for business meetings, shopping, or sightseeing without the burden of bags.
Similar systems in cities like Hong Kong (aviationa2z.com/index.php/tag/hong-kong…) and Kuala Lumpur rely on dedicated rail links for baggage transfer. In Singapore, bags will be transported by road, which may present logistical challenges.
An article on this project is published in www.mainmiles.com and summarised a the end of this issue
Singapore Airlines planes at Changi
IARO Express 668 had an earlier report on Changi
Sources Aviation A2Z (aviationa2z.com/index.php/2026/05/01/si… ) and mainlymiles.com (mainlymiles.com/2026/06/14/changi-airpo… )
Northeast Corridor bridge contract signed
The Dock Bridge is a six-track, triple-span moveable lift bridge on the Northeast Corridor just to the north west side of Newark Penn station. It opened in 1935, and crosses the Passaic River. PATH, Amtrak, and NJ Transit trains cross the bridge every day, the latter two serving Newark Liberty International Airport.
The Dock Bridge Rehabilitation Project is part of the Gateway Program and seeks to convert the bridge from a moveable to a fixed span bridge. This will remove existing mechanical and electrical systems and jacking bridge counterweights; and install permanent counterweight supports and rehabilitate concrete piers
In April 2025, Amtrak and the FRA adopted a revised scope for a planned upgrade of the bridge to save taxpayers $140 million.
On July 2, Skanska announced it had signed an $87m contract for the project. IARO Express 682 had a report on redevelopment work at Newark Liberty International Airport
Sources RT&S (www.rtands.com/track-construction/skans… ) and the IARO database
New early morning rail services for Gatwick
New early morning weekend train services to and from Gatwick Airport are being launched as part of a trial. Gatwick Express, which operates as part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) network, has launched the services to help customers make early and late flight connections to and from London.
The changes are "part of a package of passenger-focused improvements being delivered" after GTR moved into public ownership in May, a spokesperson said.
The two new trains depart London Victoria at 03:40 on Saturdays and Gatwick Airport at 04:35 on Mondays. While welcome, they are hardly revolutionary – there are Thameslink trains from Blackfriars to Gatwick at 3:39, and from Gatwick to Blackfriars at 4:20 and 4:41.
The company has also re-launched fast track airport security and discounted airport lounge access for Gatwick Express customers.
IARO Express 673 reported on plans for night services between Reading and Gatwick.
Previous Fast Track tickets, for Gatwick Express passengers travelling in First Class
Changi Airport Off-Airport Check-in Article by mainlymiles.com
The following article on the initiative by Changi Airport (published above), appeared in www.mainlymiles.com
Changi Airport has quietly rolled out a new “Off-Airport Check-In” service that lets you drop your checked bags at your hotel and have them delivered straight to your Singapore Airlines flight, leaving you free to spend your final day in the city completely hands-free.
The service (www.changiairport.com/en/at-changi/faci…) , currently badged as a beta trial by Changi Airport Group (CAG), is limited to Singapore Airlines’ passengers staying at one of three Marina Bay hotels, at a flat S$29 (£16.90, $22.50, €19.70) for each bag. It is clearly more suited to visitors than Singapore residents, but here’s how it works, who can use it, and whether it’s worth paying for.
You hand your bags to your hotel concierge in the morning, and CAG collects, seals, tracks and delivers them to your departing flight. You then turn up at Changi with nothing but your mobile boarding pass and head straight for immigration and the gate.
Plenty of cities have long offered a version of downtown check-in. Hong Kong’s in-town check-in service (www.mtr.com.hk/digitalleaflet/en/detail…) and Kuala Lumpur’s KLIA Ekspres (www.kliaekspres.com/products-fares/flig…) are the obvious regional examples, both letting you check in and drop your bags at a city rail station before you even set off for the airport.
Singapore has flirted with the idea before but never quite made it stick. CAG’s latest effort takes a different, hotel-based form, with your concierge as the drop-off point, rather than a train station.
You can book the Off-Airport Check-in service up to 13 days in advance on the Changi Airport website (offairportcheckin.changiairport.com/) . Simply select your hotel, departure date and eligible flight number from the drop-down list. Strangely the flight details only tell you which country you are flying to, not the actual destination, so be sure to pick the correct flight number! The morning drop-off window is the key restriction. This service is designed for an evening or late night departure, only accepting bags for flights leaving between 17:00 and 7:00 the following day.
Eligibility is rather narrow during this trial stage. To qualify, you must:
* Be a guest of The Fullerton Hotel, The Fullerton Bay Hotel or Marina Bay Sands, with a minimum one-night stay
* Be departing on a Singapore Airlines flight between 17:00 the same day and 7:00 the next day
* Not be travelling to the United States
* Have completed online check-in, with a digital or mobile boarding pass issued.
The trial rate is S$29 per bag. That’s a flat fee during the beta period, and it’s for each piece of luggage rather than for each booking. For a single traveller heading out on an evening flight after a relaxed last day in town, S$29 is fairly reasonable for the convenience of never touching your suitcase again until you land. For a family of four with a bag each, though, S$116 is a more significant sum, and the maths starts to look less compelling.
Once handed over, your luggage can be followed from acceptance at the hotel right through to loading onto the aircraft. You’ll get email updates when your bags are on the way to the airport and again when they’ve arrived, and you can also track them on the Manage Booking page or the Baggage Tracker in the Changi App.
Singapore has tried downtown check-in before. In September 2010, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir launched what was promoted as Singapore’s first city check-in counter
the “Baggage Express” service (www.superadrianme.com/travel/first-city…) , at the Marina Bay Sands coach terminal. Guests could collect their boarding passes and drop their checked bags as early as 48 hours, or as late as three hours, before departure, with the luggage then trucked to Changi for security screening. It was free if you had nothing to check, or S$25 for up to two bags otherwise. It was also open to travellers staying elsewhere in Singapore, not just MBS guests. It ran from Thursday to Monday, 10:00 to 18:00, but was but it didn’t last. That 2010 rate worked out at S$12.50 a bag, which makes the new “trial” price of S$29 a bag well over double what the very same hotel was charging back then.
Singapore Airlines also offered a downtown check-in at its old Paragon service centre, but that issued boarding passes only, with no baggage accepted, and it disappeared entirely when the service centre moved to ION Orchard in 2009.
The concept has a long international history, too. I used London’s version myself in the early 2000s. When the Heathrow Express opened, Paddington station offered full in-town check-in, with your suitcases sent under the platforms and loaded straight onto the train to Heathrow. You could check in, hand over your bags and spend the rest of the day in London entirely unencumbered, and Singapore Airlines was among the many participating carriers. That facility was withdrawn on security grounds around 2003.
Hong Kong’s MTR Airport Express has offered free in-town check-in for years, at both Hong Kong and Kowloon stations. There’s no charge: you just need a valid Airport Express ticket (or an Octopus card, contactless card or QR code) to enter the check-in area, plus your passport. Rather than a single morning window, you can check in and drop your bags anywhere from 24 hours to 90 minutes before departure, which is far more flexible.
Singapore Airlines is even one of the participating airlines, at Hong Kong station from 9:00 to 17:20, though not at Kowloon station. So an SIA passenger leaving Hong Kong can check their bags in town for free, across a generous all-day window.
Hong Kong’s is a station-based service that still requires you to take your bags to the MTR, whereas Changi’s hotel concierge model means you needn’t carry them anywhere. There’s also no dedicated direct airport rail link here. Unlike Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, Singapore’s checked bags travel to the airport by road: there isn’t really an equivalent rail link to Changi Airport and there probably won’t be for years.
The obvious comparison is with Changi’s existing Early Check-In options (mainlymiles.com/2025/10/31/changi-airpo…) , which already let Singapore Airlines (and many other) passengers drop bags and collect boarding passes up to 48 hours ahead, including at the Jewel facility. Those are free – but they still require you to physically go to the airport. The genuine value of off-airport check-in is that you skip that trip entirely. With most hotel checkouts at around noon and a typical SIA evening departure, there’s often an awkward half-day where you’re stuck lugging suitcases around the city, paying to store them, or leaving them at the hotel. This service removes that friction. Drop the bags at breakfast time, spend the day unencumbered, and walk into Changi with just your mobile boarding pass. Whether it’s worth S$29 a bag comes down to how much you value that convenience, and how many bags you’re carrying. For premium solo and couple travellers on a leisurely
final day, we think it could be an appealing prospect. For larger groups, the cost adds up quickly.
It’s also worth remembering this is a trial, so the price, eligibility and participating partners could all change, and there’s clear scope for CAG to expand it to more airlines and hotels if the beta proves popular.
Changi’s new off-airport check-in service is a nice, if currently very niche, addition to the departure experience, and Singapore’s latest attempt to match the downtown check-in long enjoyed by travellers in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. For now it’s strictly for Singapore Airlines passengers staying at The Fullerton, The Fullerton Bay or Marina Bay Sands, flying out in the evening to somewhere other than the United States, at S$29 per bag. If that’s you, it’s a convenient option to have a hassle-free last day in the city.
Sources BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvwzm8v93p… ) and the IARO database