The Oakland Airport Connector

[lpetrich]

BART - Oakland Airport Connector
BART airport connector rising but still stirring debate - Inside Bay Area

This is an under-construction 3.2-mi rail line between BART's Oakland Coliseum station and Oakland International Airport. From the BART station is goes in Hegenberger Rd. to Doolittle Ave. From there, it goes along Airport Dr. on the golf-course side to a station in the airport. Much of the track will be elevated; the whole system will be grade-separated. The railcars and propulsion system will be made by Doppelmayr Cable Car. Yes, the system's railcars will work like San Francisco's cable cars. However, they will be driverless. The system should start service by May 2014 or thereabouts, and the travel time should be about 15 minutes.

Its total cost is about $484 million, and I've seen some controversy about whether it's worth spending that amount of money for an airport rail link.

Construction is has now gotten to building the columns and crossbeams in Hegenberger Rd.

[gprimr1]

Connecting an airport with a rail based public transit system makes good sense to me.

[CarterB]

So the Doppelmayr Cable Car will only operate on this section, and you change to regular BART type cars at Colliseum? Much like the LIRR/monorail link at JFK?

[lpetrich]

So the Doppelmayr Cable Car will only operate on this section, and you change to regular BART type cars at Colliseum? Much like the LIRR/monorail link at JFK?

Yes indeed. I don't know how integrated it will be into BART's ticketing, however. Will it require a separate fare? Or will a BART ticket work for it also? Since BART's ticket checking is at the entrance and exit gates, the Oakland Airport station would seem like another BART station.

[Wingnut]

I'd call it Airtrain, but that name is probably trademarked by the Port Authority.

[lpetrich]

OAC sounds like "oak", so we could call it the Oak Train.

[lpetrich]

BART line to Oakland airport halfway there - SFGate

Many of the viaduct piers are now in place, and they are now putting the beams into place. The tracks' beams are metal trusses rather than concrete beams, what BART and various other systems use.

[lpetrich]

BART - Oakland Airport Connector Construction Updates now has Time Lapse video of the Oakland Airport Connector Project - YouTube - the placing of the first span of the OAC's viaduct.

It was done at night, and the construction machinery took up 4 lanes of Hegenberger Rd's 6 lanes.

[Mr.T]

Cable operated trams are already used by several major airports and also to connect some Las Vegas hotels.
Here's a Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CABLE_Liner

AFAIK, cable cars are usually cheaper to build than a line using regular self-propelled railcars, which makes it a good choice for airport connectors. The 3.2 mile Oakland line is longer than the other ones I've heard about. Usually they build them over shorter distances.

[Tadman]

3.2 miles is about the length of the Princeton Dinky and a little less than the Skokie Swift. At that point, why not just build a single-track BART branch with a passing track, and you have no new technology to support, no new cars to buy, and no teething problems.

[lensovet]

most likely because it's cheaper to operate? also, something like half of BART technology was custom-built and is therefore pretty expensive to obtain. never mind the fact that it's not really tied into the rest of the system in any appreciable manner, so it wouldn't make much sense for it to be integrated into the system anyway.

[lpetrich]

BART - Oakland Airport Connector Construction Updates now has another construction video: lowering a beam into place over I-880. Complete with closing part of I-880 for the occasion. More such videos at BARTtv - YouTube, including a tour of the Lake Elizabeth tunnel.

[lensovet]

it's cool, last week the monorail tracks finally went over the Amtrak tracks and are now approaching the half-built terminal station at the BART end. of course, this is happening right as i move out of berkeley and will stop flying into/out of oakland airport.

[electricron]

it's cool, last week the monorail tracks finally went over the Amtrak tracks and are now approaching the half-built terminal station at the BART end. of course, this is happening right as i move out of berkeley and will stop flying into/out of oakland airport.

An automated people mover (bus) isn't monorail.

[lpetrich]

The builder of the rolling stock and propulsion system: Doppelmayr Cable Car

I checked on that company's site, and its rolling stock is bi-rail rather than monorail. That rolling stock uses rubber tires and side wheels.

ETA:
DCC - Doppelmayr Cable Car - References - OAC
DCC - Doppelmayr Cable Car - Gallery - OAC
DCC - Doppelmayr Cable Car - Solutions - Technology (also check out System Features and Configurations there)

Its configuration is "dual track pinched loop system with four trains". So it looks like the OAC railcars will grip and ungrip the cables as appropriate. The railcars' top speed will be 50 km/h / 30 mph, their headway 280 seconds, and their dwell time 58 seconds.