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IARO heads to Hong Kong for Super Terminal Expo 2026
IARO will be participating in Super Terminal Expo 2026 in Hong Kong from 3–5 November, bringing airport-rail connectivity firmly into the discussion at one of Asia-Pacific’s major events for the future of passenger terminals, transport and infrastructure.
Taking place at AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong, Super Terminal Expo will bring together airport authorities, transport operators, infrastructure specialists, technology providers and other industry stakeholders to examine the next generation of terminal development and connectivity.
IARO will have a strong presence throughout the three-day event, with its own exhibition stand providing a meeting point for members, partners and other organisations interested in improving connections between airports and their surrounding rail and public transport networks.
A particular highlight will take place on Wednesday 4 November, when IARO will organise a dedicated 90-minute Air-Rail Forum. The session will feature presentations followed by a moderated panel discussion examining the development of airport-rail links and the opportunities for better integration between aviation, rail and wider transport networks.
The Forum will provide an opportunity to showcase projects and experience from across the IARO network, while also introducing the work of the Association to the wider international airport community attending the Expo.
IARO members interested in giving a presentation or participating in the panel discussion are encouraged to get involved. Please contact Patrick at patrick@iaro.com (mailto:patrick@iaro.com) if you would like to discuss taking part.
Members attending Super Terminal Expo are also invited to visit the IARO exhibition stand during the event. It will provide an informal base for meetings, networking and discussions with colleagues from across the airport and transport sectors.
3–5 November 2026 | AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong
Find out more about Super Terminal Expo 2026 (superterminalexpo.com)
Just 4 Weeks to Go
IARO 2026 Air-Rail Conference and Networking Meeting - Brussels Airport, 7-8 October
There are now just five weeks to go until the IARO 2026 Air-Rail Conference and Networking Meeting, hosted by Brussels Airport on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 October.
The two-day programme will bring together IARO members and industry stakeholders for airport and facility visits, conference sessions, panel discussions and networking, with a strong focus on the future development of air-rail and intermodal transport.
Wednesday’s programme includes a visit to the Brussels Airport Aviation Training Centre (AHLEX), presentations from Brussels Airlines and DB Fernverkehr, a landside and airside airport tour highlighting the future Intermodal Hub, followed by the Welcome to Brussels Networking Reception and Dinner.
On Thursday, conference sessions will address high-speed and long-distance rail connectivity to airports, airport development and design, integrated air-rail systems, new technology and disruption management. Speakers will represent organisations including the European Commission, Infrabel, Brussels Airlines, DB Fernverkehr, Foster + Partners, Brussels Airport, Kuala Lumpur Express Rail Link, SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, Airport Intelligence and AccesRail.
Participation is free of charge for IARO Members, but advance registration is essential.
Deutsche Bahn’s first high-speed train at Brussels Airport, with Brussels Airlines for a combined train and flight ticket
On Monday 7 September, the first ICE high-speed train (HST) from Cologne arrived at Brussels Airport station. This means the airport is, for the first time since 2015, directly connected again to the international high-speed rail network. Travellers from western Germany flying with Brussels Airlines can combine their flight and train journey in a single booking, thanks to a partnership between the airline and Deutsche Bahn.
Deutsche Bahn’s first high-speed train departed from Cologne station at 6:11 am on Monday moring After stops in Aachen, Liège and Leuven, the train arrived at Brussels Airport at 8:29 a.m., marking the return of a high-speed train service to the airport for the first time in over 10 years. Around five minutes later, the train continued on to its final destination, Antwerpen-Centraal. To celebrate the inaugural journey, Brussels Airlines cabin crew treated all passengers on board to Belgian Neuhaus chocolates.
“The arrival of this high-speed rail service marks an important step in the further development of Brussels Airport as an intermodal hub,” said Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport. “We want to offer travellers a range of sustainable options to travel efficiently to and from the airport, across national borders. Thanks to the connection to the high-speed rail network, passengers can already complete part of their journey by train and enjoy seamless access to the more than 180 destinations in our network. This new connection is a great example of how, together with various partners, we are enabling future-oriented mobility.”
Since the partnership between Brussels Airlines and Deutsche Bahn was announced in February, over 1000 tickets have already been sold, allowing travellers to complete part of their journey by train with a single ticket that combines rail and air travel. New York (United States), Accra (Ghana) and Alicante (Spain) are the most popular destinations for this intermodal product.
Travellers using the Brussels Airlines and Deutsche Bahn partnership benefit from a guaranteed connection in the event of delays and can also earn miles through the Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programme. Tickets are available via brusselsairlines.com, travel agencies and all other usual sales channels.
“We’re very excited about this intermodal partnership between Deutsche Bahn and Brussels Airlines, “says Nina Öwerdieck, Chief Financial Officer of Brussels Airlines. “We’re able to welcome more guests on our network, without the need of adding flights. We hope this is the start of a larger high-speed train network at Brussels Airport in the future, with hopefully more seamless intermodal travel options to come.”
“Direct to Antwerp, direct to Brussels Airport, and all on our state-of-the-art trains: this is how we’re making international rail travel even easier and more appealing for passengers. We’re connecting two key transport hubs via the ICE service: Cologne, as a hub for cross-border long-distance travel, and Brussels Airport, as an international hub for onward journeys by air”, says Dr. Michael Peterson, DB Board Member for Long Distance Passenger Transport Deutsche Bahn.
There are two return services every day between Cologne and Antwerp. The trains from Cologne arrive at the airport station at 8:29 a.m. and 4:28 p.m. The trains in the other direction, from Antwerp to Cologne, call at Brussels Airport at 11:29 a.m. and 2:29 p.m. Deutsche Bahn’s ICE high-speed trains operate in cooperation with NMBS, which provides the drivers for this connection.
The new connection offers travellers from Western Germany fast and easy access to Brussels Airport’s extensive network, with more than 180 destinations worldwide. At the same time, passengers arriving at the airport have an easy and direct connection to Western Germany. In this way, this high-speed train strengthens Brussels Airport’s role as an intermodal hub and makes it easier to combine train and plane.
ICE to Munich Airport “not feasible”
The present airport in Munich (Franz Joseph Strauß) opened in 1992, served by Line S8 of the local rail network. This runs west and north from the city centre to the airport. Line S1, running east and north from the city, was extended to the airport in 1998. In 2019, a regional service to Regensburg in the north was launched. However, there have been aspirations for something better – indeed, there were firm plans for a maglev line at the turn of the century.
This year, a review by Deutsche Bahn has shown that long-distance trains cannot be operated efficiently on the existing S-Bahn line. This rules out a quick interim solution for a long-distance rail connection to Munich Airport. Deutsche Bahn (airliners.de) examined whether high speed ICE trains could run on the existing S-Bahn and regional train lines and concluded that this is not feasible on the already heavily used tracks.
From Deutsche Bahn's perspective, there is no alternative to new construction. Only a dedicated long-distance line can reliably connect Germany's second-largest airport to the main rail network.
The debate about a long-distance rail connection to Munich Airport (airliners.de) has been running for around 40 years, so far without result. The airport was planned in the 1980s to replace the old Riem Airport, closer to the city, with a long-distance train station and four runways. However, only two runways and a suburban rail connection were built.
S-Bahn train at the airport visitor centre, Besucherpark station.
IARO Express 542 had the most recent report on Munich, reviewing new trains for the S-Bahn.
Sources Airliners (airliners.de ) and the IARO database
Ho Chi Minh City’s new airport and its planned rail links
The city’s current airport at Tan Son Nhat is congested and difficult to expand, so a second airport at Long Thanh, east of the city, has been under construction since January 2021. It should open on 1st December. It is a national key project covering about 5,000 hectares, with a total estimated investment of more than US$13 billion. The airport is being developed in three phases, making it the country’s largest aviation infrastructure undertaking to date. Once fully completed, the airport will have a total capacity of up to 100 million passengers and five million metric tons of cargo a year.
Current plans are for it to be served by the country’s North-South high speed line and three lines of the city’s metro - Line 1 from the city centre, Line 6 connecting the two airports, and Line 3 to the coast. Construction of Line 1 is expected to begin this month. Construction of Phase 1 of Line 6 will begin in December: Line 3 is still in the planning process.
Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai City, southern Vietnam will be connected with the North-South high-speed railway and two metro lines
The North-South high-speed railway will mainly serve inter-provincial routes, and will have a low operating frequency. The metro lines will offer cheaper fares and more frequent services, handling the majority of passengers traveling to and from Long Thanh Airport. The train travel time between Thu Thiem station (opposite the historic city centre) and the airport in the initial phase is likely to be 31 minutes.
Ho Chi Minh City is also studying Metro Line 3, connecting Vung Tau - Ba Ria - Phu My (vietnam.vn) to Long Thanh Airport. This will be the first metro line connecting Long Thanh International Airport with the sea. According to calculations, the travel time from Vung Tau to Long Thanh airport by express train will be 30 minutes (with few stops), and by stopping train about 50 minutes.
Long Thanh Airport will have a multimodal transportation system, with multiple expressways, metro lines, and high-speed rail routes. It will not only be the largest airport in the country but also the largest multimodal transport hub in Vietnam.
Designing the integrated rail and metro station complex at Long Thanh International Airport is challenging. The current plan is for separate station structures arranged in a staggered layout connected through a centralised passenger transit system to maximise accessibility while minimising impacts on existing airport infrastructure.
The station complex will be in the access corridor leading to Terminal T1. The North-South high-speed railway will run along the central axis of the system. The Ben Thanh–Suoi Tien metro line, line 1, is to be to the left of the North-South high-speed railway when traveling from Ho Chi Minh City while Line 6 will be on the right side. Because the area in front of Terminal T1 is constrained by access roads, elevated roadways, parking facilities, and technical infrastructure, a staggered layout is necessary.
The North-South high-speed railway station will be northeast of the Terminal T1 axis and serve as the central hub of the transportation complex, linking the airport with the national railway network and metro lines. The two metro stations will be southwest of Terminal T1, running parallel to each other and positioned on either side of the high-speed railway alignment. The proposed arrangement will allow the high-speed railway station and the two metro stations to operate independently in terms of structure, technology, signaling systems, train control, and operations. The independent arrangement of the North-South high-speed railway and the two metro lines will reduce technical interface risks. Each project could proceed with investment, construction, testing, operation, and maintenance according to its own schedule.
Terminal T1 is to be connected to the railway and metro stations through a network of pedestrian transit bridges, underground passages, or a combination of both. However, underground construction space in front of Terminal T1 is limited by both existing and ongoing infrastructure projects. As a result, minimum separation distances would need to be maintained between tunnels, station boxes, retaining walls, building foundations, and utility systems, requiring appropriate engineering and construction solutions. The proposal also involves multiple projects and management agencies, making close coordination necessary to control technical interfaces, avoid overlapping construction zones, and prevent design modifications.
The distance between the railway stations and Terminal T1 will be approximately 400 meters longer than under an alternative plan in which the stations are directly aligned with the terminal’s main access axis. However, this drawback could be addressed through integrated transit corridors, pedestrian bridges, escalators, elevators, moving walkways, and wayfinding systems, similar to those used at many international airports worldwide.
This updates the report in IARO Express 675, which itself supplemented the report in IARO Express 655.
and the IARO database
Sources Tuo Tre (news.tuoitre.vn ), Vietnam.vn (vietnam.vn )
Montreal Trudeau Airport train to open next year
The Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is a new automated light rail system designed to link key parts of Greater Montreal. The first section opened in July 2023 between Brossard on the South Shore and Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal. This initial segment offers an 18-minute end to end ride, with trains running every few minutes during the day.
The full REM network is planned to stretch roughly 67 kilometers with 26 stations across multiple branches. The airport connection is part of the main line running from Deux-Montagnes and the West Island through downtown to Brossard. The airport station, officially named YUL-Aéroport-Montréal-Trudeau, is under construction on the airport grounds in Dorval.
According to the REM project team, commissioning of the airport branch is currently forecast for 2027: exact timing will depend on testing and construction progress. The future system promises a 20-minute, weather-protected indoor connection to Gare Centrale.
Testing began last month on the airport branch: trains have started operating automatically at low speed. The speed of the cars and the frequency of testing will increase in the coming weeks. Initially trains are running to the future Marie-Curie station in the Technoparc area of the St-Laurent borough, one of two stations on the REM’s airport spur. Once the airport completes construction (google.com) of the YUL-Aéroport-Montréal-Trudeau station, testing will begin along the entire route. Both stations are scheduled to be commissioned at the same time before the end of 2027.
REM is testing all components of the network, including the cars, platform screen doors and communication systems. After testing, it will begin integrating the branch with the rest of the network and then conduct trial runs where trains operate under normal service conditions without passengers before regular service begins.
Until the REM branch opens, the 747 bus remains the most practical and budget-friendly public transit option.
747 bus at Trudeau airport
IARO Express 675 had an earlier report.
Sources Montreal Gazette (montrealgazette.com ) and Nomad Lawyer (nomadlawyer.org )
Grand Paris Express Line 18
Grand Paris Express Line 18 will run for 35 km south and west of the city from Orly Airport to Versailles-Chantiers railway station, with 10 stations servicing the French ‘Silicon Valley’ and major universities. The first section to open later this year will be the 9.2 km four-station section between Massy-Palaiseau (the nearest TGV station to Orly) and Christ de Saclay. Testing and staff training is now underway ahead of the opening.
Testing is nearly complete, with trains reaching their maximum speed of 100 km/h. Safety certification of the stations is underway. Services will initially run every 5 minutes in the peaks and every 10 minutes off-peak, with the possibility of increasing frequencies to meet demand.
The second stage from Massy-Palaiseau east to Orly Airport will open by the end of 2027, with Keolis’ Line 18 subsidiary then taking over the management of the airport station which will be served by lines 18 and 14. The third phase running northwest from Christ de Saclay to Versailles-Chantiers is expected to open in 2030.
Ridership on Line 18 is predicted to reach 118 000 passengers/day.
Features of the line will include gradients of 0.35% from Massy to Plateau de Saclay and 0.4% from Saint-Quentin-Est to Satory, and a 7 km viaduct on the Plateau de Saclay which will be the highest metro viaduct in France.
In October 2021 Alstom was awarded a €199m contract to supply 15 trainsets for Line 18, with options for 22 more. The initial 10 sets which are required for the launch of the first phase of services were delivered to the Palaiseau depot by the end of May, and three sets are at the railway test centre in Valenciennes-Petite-Forêt. All 15 sets are to arrive by next month. The three-car trainsets are 47.5 m long and 2 500 mm wide with a capacity of 350 passengers. Each car will feature three 1·65 m wide doors, with wide aisles to give a spacious feeling and allow a greater flow of traffic. The spacious gangways will have a rigid lining instead of the traditional bellows. The centre cars will have dedicated space for airport passengers’ luggage.
The trains will use a 1.5 kV DC third-rail power supply system and are equipped for GoA4 unattended automatic operation at up to 100 km/h. Features include CCTV, HVAC with virus filters and 36 passenger information screens. Alstom’s Urbalis Fluence CBTC will use train-to-train communication to support minimum headways of 85 seconds. Ticketing and access control equipment has been supplied by Easier and Hitachi Rail, as with all Grand Paris Express stations, and platform edge doors by Portalp.
Ile-de-France-Mobilités has appointed Keolis to operate the line under a seven-year contract extendable to 10 years. Keolis will have a dedicated subsidiary with around 100 staff, including line supervisors at the control centre, station managers, and responsible for rolling stock and station maintenance. Infrastructure maintenance will be undertaken by RATP-Infrastructure.
IARO Express 665 had a report on the success of Line 14, also serving Orly.
Source Railway Gazette (railwaygazette.com )
Govia Thameslink urges holidaymakers heading to Gatwick and Luton airports to travel safely
Holidaymakers travelling to Gatwick and Luton airports this summer by train were urged to travel safely, as thousands more passengers headed away on their summer breaks. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which operates Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink services to both airports, reminded customers to allow extra time for their journeys and to take extra care when travelling with luggage.
The advice formed part of the operator's rail safety campaign fronted by comedian and actress Diane Morgan (youtube.com) , which highlighted the simple steps passengers can take to avoid injury while travelling.
According to GTR, so far this year there have been 93 reports of people falling as they are trying to board a train, which is an increase of 43% compared to 2025. The operator is releasing new CCTV footage demonstrating this behaviour in action, highlighting how easily someone could get stuck, or end up on train tracks. Attempting to board a train as the doors as closing – along with running for trains and taking pushchairs and luggage on escalators – is amongst the most common causes for train station accidents. These are all completely preventable behaviours that GTR is encouraging passengers to avoid.
GTR has revealed that overall figures for slips, trips and falls are down 5% year-on-year following the launch of its ‘Travel Safe with Diane Morgan’ campaign earlier this year.
However, with Gatwick and Luton airports traditionally experiencing their busiest footfall in August, there would be an increase in people travelling to these destinations by train, which is why the operator is using CCTV footage to act as a warning to take extra care when travelling.
Thameslink train at Luton Airport Parkway