IARO 2026 Air-Rail Meeting Hosted by Brussels Airport
Event Report, Presentations and Photo Gallery available
The 2026 IARO Conference and Networking Meeting took place last week.
Many thanks to Brussels Airport for generously hosting the Meeting - and to all participants who attended it.
To view the Report, Photo Gallery and Presentations (Members only), click: Source article
Further information about the IARO, click on www.iaro.com (linkedin.com) or by email to patrick.hicks@iaro.com (mailto:patrick.hicks@iaro.com)
Keep Heathrow Express!
Late last month, the UK’s Guardian newspaper discussed “killing off Heathrow Express” – mainly, it said, in order to make more room for more trains on congested infrastructure.
Unsurprisingly, IARO disputes the newspaper’s analysis.
* Firstly, we believe in choice. Passengers travelling between London and Heathrow have an excellent range of options – the Piccadilly Line, the Elizabeth Line, and Heathrow Express (where there is also a choice between Express Class and the premium Business First).
* Heathrow Express is faster to many destinations, more comfortable and was built for the air passenger with toilets and ample luggage space. The alternative is more likely to be a limo or a taxi than a different train.
* The article notes that 4.5m people – less than 6% of Heathrow’s air passengers – used Heathrow Express last year. However, it omits to note that over a quarter of those air passengers just changed planes: they didn’t use surface transport at the airport at all. Nor did it note comparable data for the Elizabeth Line and Piccadilly Line (about 15% of all air passengers use each of these).
A Transport for London (TfL) official is quoted as saying that Heathrow Express takes up valuable paths which aren’t well used.
Again, not the whole truth. Heathrow Express runs on the main lines, with its 177 km/h trains fitting in with InterCity services. The original Heathrow Express class 332s were designed so that their better acceleration meant that, even with a lower top speed, they could get from Paddington to Airport Junction in the same time as a 200 km/h InterCity 125.
The Elizabeth Line runs a stopping service on the Relief Lines: running 145km/h Elizabeth Line trains on the Main Lines, even non-stop, would reduce capacity, not increase it.
An airport-bound Elizabeth Line train
IARO believes that the best way to improve public transport mode share at the airport is to open the long-planned Western and Southern Access routes.
Sources IARO analysis and the Guardian (theguardian.com )
Newark enhancements continue
IARO Express 682 reported on a major upgrade to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport. Terminal A is also down for enhancements.
At the end of September, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Commissioners authorised $110 million towards two expansion projects at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal A. These are a southern expansion adding two gates, set to open in 2029, and a northern expansion adding six gates, to open in phases beginning in 2030.
The modernised Terminal A opened in 2023: it was designed to accommodate future expansion. The original design was to serve approximately 13 million passengers annually. However, demand has exceeded forecasts, with approximately 18 million passengers using the terminal in 2024. The expansion plans advance the Port Authority’s ambitious EWR Vision Plan, which includes a new Terminal B and new AirTrain system. The Vision Plan aims to re-imagine the airport as a world-class facility to meet the growing needs of passengers, airlines and the surrounding community.
The expansion of Terminal A advances the EWR Vision Plan, a wide-ranging blueprint setting the course for the Newark Liberty International Airport’s continued development over the coming decades to accommodate passenger growth with modern, world-class terminals on par with the existing Terminal A, as well as the agency’s redevelopments of LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airports. It will create an airport complete with modern terminals and infrastructure, a new, modern AirTrain system, a more intuitive roadway network, and a redesigned taxiway network to accommodate more aircraft and reduce delays. The blueprint enables the airport to handle future growth, while serving the evolving needs of passengers, airlines, and the surrounding community. It was developed following extensive outreach to airport tenants, operational partners, and the public.
The Port Authority is in the midst of a complete redevelopment of Newark Liberty International Airport that began with the 2023 opening of Terminal A – the centerpiece of an airport-wide enhancement.
Major elements of the redevelopment include:
* Terminal development: A new world-class international terminal to replace the current Terminal B, while enhancing Terminal C to improve the customer experience. Both would complement the airport’s new Terminal A, which could also see further expansion. The terminals would allow the airport to accommodate continued growth in passenger volume, while leaving space for further expansion as needed.
* Airside development: Improving airport operations with a more efficient and resilient taxiway network, while accommodating the industry trend toward larger aircraft.
* Landside development: Transformation of the airport’s vehicular and multi-modal access, prioritising efficiency and convenience for all users. Alongside terminal buildings, frontages would be expanded to meet industry standards, providing ample space for passenger waiting, loading and unloading while minimising walking distances. AirTrain access would be simplified, while connectivity and amenities for cyclists, pedestrians, and service vehicles would be improved. The roadway network would also be streamlined to reduce decision points and separate major flows with independent circulation for each terminal.
* AirTrain Newark: Replacing the outdated AirTrain Newark with a modern 4km automated system to accommodate a ridership forecasted to grow by 50% by 2040. A critical component of the airport, the system carries about 33,000 passengers and employees daily, or approximately 12 million passengers annually. It provides access to Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT’s Northeast Corridor lines at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Train Station, and allows customers and employees to transfer between terminals, parking lots, and rental car facilities.
* Newark station access: The Port Authority is constructing a new entry point to Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT’s Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station on the Northeast Corridor line, enabling easier and faster mass transit options for residents of Newark and Elizabeth to get to the airport and New York City. The new entrance will give local residents direct access to the Airport Train station, providing the community with the ability to take mass transit either to the airport using AirTrain Newark or to New York City on NJ TRANSIT. The project will also improve connections to PATH train service from Newark Penn Station for access to Jersey City and Manhattan.
The present Airtrain Newark
Source Metro Airport News (metroairportnews.com )
ANA/JAL and Rail & Fly to end?
ANA and Japan Airlines (JAL) are likely to have ended their partnership with Deutsche Bahn’s Rail&Fly integrated ticketing system on October 14, because Deutsche Bahn’s partnership with WorldTicket has ended. Train segments booked with flights for travel on or after October 15 will be cancelled and can no longer be used, ANA says.
The long-running Rail&Fly system allows travel between major German airports and cities in Germany, and is sold by a number of airlines. ANA and JAL were among them, but this arrangement appears to have ended because of the termination of the partnership between Deutsche Bahn and WorldTicket, whose W2 code appears on the train segments. Customers holding affected tickets will be contacted at the email address on their booking. The notice from ANA offers no replacement train product and does not say how refunds will work. ANA apologises for the inconvenience and concern for customers who hold affected tickets.
Tickets have in the past been offered by ANA at no additional charge to published fares from Japan and Germany. Trains can be used on the flight day and the next day when arriving in Germany, and on the day before and the flight day when leaving. The train shows on the ticket with a W2 flight number, and the times on the e-ticket are provisional.
The same ANA page still lists Lufthansa Express Rail and SWISS Air Rail as separate services. Lufthansa Express Rail uses LH flight numbers on tickets and it is sold through ANA’s joint venture partner Lufthansa.
JAL is ending its own Rail&Fly service for the same reason. From October 15, Deutsche Bahn segments with flight numbers beginning with W2 will be canceled, and the itineraries are expected to disappear from the Japan Airlines website. Japan Airlines said it will announce its refund and change policy for the rail segments once it has been decided.
Sources Deep Arrival (deeparrival.com ), ANA (ana.co.jp ) and the IARO database
Cuiabá light rail project downgraded to BRT
The Matto Grosso state government awarded the VLT Cuiabá consortium a R$1.48bn turnkey contract for a two-line 22km light rail system, which would connect the airport in Várzea Grande with the city. Completion was to be in 2014, in time for the World Cup.
The northeast – southwest 15km line 1 was planned to link the Administrative Political Centre (CPA) in Cuiabá to the airport. 40 vehicles were supplied by CAF, but were stored for several years before being moved – some to the city of Salvador.
Only 500m of the line was built before it was halted by lawsuits: a tender to re-start was issued in 2018 but the project was cancelled in 2020 in favour of a bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
Sources Railway Gazette International, Tramways and Urban Transit and the IARO database
Cross-Channel competitors offer new rail-air connections
Start-up operator Gemini Trains plans to break Eurostar’s 32-year grip on the London - Europe Channel Tunnel line with new routes, new stations and introductory Paris fares of about £59.
The British-based company, which says it is backed by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, wants to run rival services to Paris, including Disneyland Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport, as well as on the Cologne route. It then aims to expand to Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, putting three of Germany’s biggest commercial centres on a direct rail route to London for the first time.
Gemini says London to Cologne would take about four hours, similar to Eurostar’s London to Amsterdam service. Today the same trip can take up to six hours with at least one change.
With capacity at St Pancras under pressure, Gemini plans to make Stratford International its main London hub, with trains also calling at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, where Eurostar suspended services in 2020. That would restore a direct link for Kent’s business community after more than a decade of lobbying.
The company has also signed a ticketing and co-branding partnership with Uber, building on its order for a fleet of Siemens high-speed trains (bmmagazine.co.uk) announced last year. Gemini is set to lease eight electric 200m trains carrying more than 550 passengers each, running about eleven services a day by 2030 before “rapid expansion”. Eurostar operates about 26 daily services from London. Tickets will be dynamically priced, with standard class promising “more comfortable seats, good wifi and mood lighting” and business class offering food and a privacy screen.
Stratford International – the planned terminus and hub for the Gemini cross-Channel service.
For more than 30 years Eurostar has been the tunnel’s sole passenger operator, and the tunnel still operates at about 50% capacity.
But the ground is shifting. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains has ordered 12 Alstom Avelia Stream trains for a planned 2030 launch (bmmagazine.co.uk) : Alstom will also service the trains under a 30-year maintenance contract. Virgin has secured access to Temple Mills, the east London depot that is the only site in Britain able to house and maintain cross-Channel trains, a decision the regulator said unlocks around £700 million of investment (orr.gov.uk) . Gemini missed out on Temple Mills but said it was speaking to the Department for Transport about a potential new depot at Ashford, and would consider sites in Belgium or Germany.
Virgin has offered a first glimpse of its plans to re-imagine cross-Channel travel, releasing a new image of a striking black and red train and sharing some early clues about what customers can expect on board. Virgin plans to introduce 20 daily return services between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030, adding almost 7.5 million seats to the cross-Channel route each year and creating up to 1,000 new jobs, boosting tourism and business travel, and supporting local economies. The company is promising that a trip through the Channel Tunnel will be something passengers can look forward to just as much as reaching their destination.
Virgin’s ambition is to bring the customer experience it is known for around the world to cross-Channel rail. Virgin Atlantic’s Clubhouses will help inspire pre-departure and onboard social spaces, giving passengers more flexibility to work, relax or socialise. Virgin Voyages’ onboard dining will influence the food and drink offer, while Virgin Hotels’ focus on comfort and design will help inform the development of seating and onboard spaces.
Virgin will also explore how its rail and airline networks could work more closely together, making it easier for international customers arriving in London with Virgin Atlantic to continue to France and other European destinations, while connecting passengers from France into Virgin Atlantic’s global network.
Your editor notes Virgin’s classic exuberance, with a beautiful picture of a train running in stunning countryside on tracks uncontaminated by catenary or third rail! More seriously, the complication of getting passengers between Heathrow and St Pancras should not be under-estimated.
Italy’s Trenitalia and Spanish start-up Evolyn are also assessing the potential for cross-channel services, after the rail regulator opened the door to Channel Tunnel competition (bmmagazine.co.uk) last year.
The incumbent is not standing still. Eurostar is preparing to invest £1.7 billion in a fleet of 50 double-decker trains (mediacentre.eurostar.com) , enabling direct services to Geneva and to Cologne and Frankfurt by 2031, and a report commissioned by the company projects passenger numbers on London routes will rise by 50% over the next decade.
Your editor noted Virgin’s classic exuberance, with a beautiful picture of a train running in beautiful countryside on tracks uncontaminated by catenary or third rail! More seriously, the complication of getting passengers between Heathrow and St Pancras should not be under-estimated.
Sources BM magazine (bmmagazine.co.uk ), Virgin (virgin.com )