Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Source:
compiled from EC, 1998b
Figure 8.6b
The mutual influence of HSR and APT in selected German market
corridors
Complementarity and cooperation
In general, an airport can be connected to different levels of rail service. At the first
level, an airport can be connected with a catchment area by dedicated local rail links.
In terms of infrastructure requirements, this type of connection needs the railway
station at the airport and rail lines. At the second level, an airport may be connected
to the national conventional rail network. Such type of connectivity allows exchange
of passengers between air and rail at the wider scale, from regional to national. The
infrastructure requirements are similar to the case of local train connections, but the
rail station and links should be adapted to the type of services spread much beyond
the airport catchment area. The third level of connectivity of airports is provided by
HSR links. Similar infrastructure is required, as in the case of conventional rail, but
the rail stations and links should be modified to the HSR requirements. In all of the
above cases, the rail and air mode operate more or less independently in terms of time,
frequency and capacity of particular services, and applied ticketing/pricing scheme.
Connection of airports by rail links may create benefits in terms of improving flex-
ibility of airport surface access systems, as an alternative to congested road links and
an enhancement of the overall air/rail intermodality through complementarity.
5
In
particular, complementarity emerges as a convenient option of air/rail intermodality
once the HSR stations and their links are present at airports. Inherently, compleme-
tarity includes cooperation between two modes: APT and HSR. In particular, comple-
mentarity can be established at the airports with a relatively high volume and proportion
of connecting (transit/transfer passengers) and linked by HSR. In Western Europe,
these airports are the hubs of large airlines, which operate strong hub-and-spoke net-
works (Amsterdam Schiphol, Franfurt Main and Paris Charles de Gaule are some
