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Airport stations

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mrcheek

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Out of all the new lines and stations that have opened in the last 20 years or so, many of them have been built or reopened in order to serve airports. So it would now seem that nearly all the major airports of the UK have a station dedicated to them, whether it be a proper station or a parkway.

But are there any that do not? The only one I am aware of is Bristol, which has only a bus service from far-away Temple Meads. does anybody know of any more?
 
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Darandio

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Durham Tees Valley (or Tees-side Airport as its still called) looks as though it is going to be upgraded and relocated under the new plan, whether it is a Tees Valley Metro service or just an upgrade of the existing line. In all honesty, the two services per week that it gets are actually two too many because of the location of the station in proximity to the terminal, utterly pointless.
 

Mojo

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Keep hearing stories about building a spur off the main line to Bristol Airport but apparently there are some hills in the way?

It's hardly a major airport though and I think there are much more important transport projects in the area that need funding. Would a bus link from Nailsea/Backwell or Yatton be quicker?
 

tbtc

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Leeds Bradford?

The railway goes pretty close to Doncaster Airport but doesn't stop

East Midlands Parkway isn't an "airport" station in the true sense - it's more a Park & Ride for motorists on the M1, rather than adjacent to the airport
 

Mcr Warrior

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:roll: Dyce Station at two and a half miles distance is much further away from the passenger terminal at Aberdeen Airport than the mile or so distance Tees-Side Airport station is from Durham Tees Valley Airport.
 

Bayum

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Leeds Bradford?

The railway goes pretty close to Doncaster Airport but doesn't stop

East Midlands Parkway isn't an "airport" station in the true sense - it's more a Park & Ride for motorists on the M1, rather than adjacent to the airport

Yeahhh Leeds Bradford...

At best, from the train station on a bus, it takes a good half hour/45 minutes...
 

507 001

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Liverpool John Lennon, nearest station is Liverpool South Parkway, and previously Garston, and is linked by a Bus
 

Mojo

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London Southend Airport is marketed by the signs at Rochford station but it wasn't specially built for the Airport nor is there a shuttle bus to the Airport from the station (itself not really being walkable).
 

me123

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GARL will link Glasgow to Glasgow International Airport, also enhancing local services to Paisley. Prestwick Airport also has a successful station.

EARL has been cancelled, but the controversial tram scheme will provide links from Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket and Edinburgh Park stations.

You pass Dundee airport on the Tayside line, but it's so small and pathetic that it does not warrant a stop for that purpose alone.

Dyce gets a decent service from Aberdeen, but you are a bit away from the terminal.

The only major airport in Scotland without a rail link will soon be Inverness. This is growing, with more flights to the Islands and London in lieu of a slow and infrequent rail link. You do pass quite near it IIRC when travelling between Aberdeen and Inverness, so a station may happen in the future.

The above are all the major Scottish airports, with the exception of Dundee which is a runway and a couple of hangars.
 

jopsuk

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Every so often there's talk, too, of running commercial flights from Leuchars.

Southampton is an oddish one- usually a "parkway" will be some distance from what it is named after, but Southampton Airport Parkway Railway Station is pretty much right next to the terminal (contrast Luton Aiport Parkwway, which has a buslink).

Other than Gatwick, are there any purpose built, non-parkway airport stations- those actually in the airport complex- that aren't terminals on a spur line?
 
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The Snap

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Blackpool International isn't served by a railway directly. There isn't a station that was specifically built for the airport, but Squires Gate Lane station is within a 5 minute walk.
 

stut

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Norwich (Horsham St Faith) is a fair distance from any railway line, but taxis to Norwich Thorpe are quite cheap, anyway (even if the traffic's normally pretty bad coming out of the airport).

Humberside is a tiny airport, but quite close to the Barnetby-Grimsby line (about half a mile).
 

scrapy

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Other than Gatwick, are there any purpose built, non-parkway airport stations- those actually in the airport complex- that aren't terminals on a spur line?

Birmingham?? If not in the complex it's certainly very close
 

tbtc

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Yeahhh Leeds Bradford...

At best, from the train station on a bus, it takes a good half hour/45 minutes...

Given traffic on Kirkstall Road, I'd want to leave over an hour for the journey on the 757 - a horribly congested road :-x
 

The Planner

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Birmingham International was built more with the NEC in mind originally I think, they both opened around 1975 ish and I dont think the airport had anywhere near the traffic it does now. The old Maglev didnt open until long after the station did.
 

221_108

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Other than Gatwick, are there any purpose built, non-parkway airport stations- those actually in the airport complex- that aren't terminals on a spur line?

Birmingham International and Manchester Airport stations are practically next to the terminals.

Birmingham has the fantastic AirRail across which brings you into T1.

There is a short walk from Manchester Airport station to the terminal across an internal bridge IIRC.
 

rww100

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Yeah, in Manchester it's a short walk along a raised glass walkaway with travellators. You can pick up trolleys from the actual platforms and there's a lift up to the walkway so it's not too hard to manage with luggage.
 

jopsuk

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But "Manchester" isn't an answer to my question- it is a terminal station at the end of a spur line, like Stansted or two out of three Heathrow stations- though T123 is not really a "through" station like Gatwick or Birmingham Int (it only has dedicated Airport services, whereas those two have through services that happen to stop there).
 

EWS 58038

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1 train a week in both directions :lol:
Even Humberside airport has a better rail service.

Amsterdam airport Schiphol has more then 700 services calling a day.
 
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Mojo

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Glasgow Prestwick Airport station is connected by a footbridge to the terminal on the Ayrshire Coast/Glasgow South Western line.
 

jamesontheroad

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Glasgow Prestwick Airport station is connected by a footbridge to the terminal on the Ayrshire Coast/Glasgow South Western line.

Perhaps Prestwick's number one selling point as an airport is it's station. Being about 45 minutes from Glasgow Central, it's arguably as convenient as Glasgow International Airport is, although the new GARL will change that. Sadly Prestwick's operator Infratil is not in great financial shape, and with Ryanair operating 99% of the scheduled flights the airport isn't in a great position to agree better terms re: taxes and charges. It feels run down and sadly the station reflects that, it being managed and maintained by the airport rather than ScotRail or NR.

A major selling point is the 50% discount on single tickets to or from anywhere in Scotland for arriving or departing passengers. I don't know how this is subsidised, but it makes for a really tempting offer (Ryanair fares + £3.20 train every 30 minutes from Glasgow). It also has escalators and an enclosed bridge direct to the check-in hall:



A couple of airports not mentioned so far are those in Northern Ireland. I make at least one monthly trip to Northern Ireland, flying with Ryanair from Prestwick to Belfast City (Ryanair's shortest flight anywhere: usually 19 minutes runway to runway!).

Belfast City is right in town, compared with Belfast International about 20 miles away, which can be up to an hour in bad traffic. It's also right next to the A2 Belfast/Bangor road and the Belfast/Bangor railway line, with a stop at Sydenham (apologies for the amateur fake-model-train look I tried to get in Photoshop):



Modern CAF C3K DMUs leave at least every half hour towards Bangor and Belfast. So for me it's £3.20 Glasgow -> Prestwick, between £1 and £10 for the flight, and then £1.60 for the train into Belfast-Botanic. Sadly most passengers arriving or leaving from Belfast City by public transport are directed onto the airport bus, which costs about the same but only serves Donegal Square and Belfast-Europa Buscentre, at Great Victoria Street station.

Sydenham station is connected by a rather unappealing footbridge over the A2 to the disused airport entrance next to the old passenger terminal (now a freight and cargo facility). The new terminal, built less than a decade ago is about half a mile further north along the A2, but a free shuttle operates on request between the terminal and a shelter inside the old gates. While waiting for the bus you get to admire the inside of the old security checkpoint that welcomed you to Northern Ireland!



That banner welcoming you to Northern Ireland is so old, it's offered by Jersey European, an airline that's now twice changed its name (although which still serves the airport).

Planning permission is currently being sought for a new sports stadium across the A2 and railway tracks from the new terminal building. Part of the planning application has alluded to a new railway halt that would be next to the stadium, and directly across the dual carriageway from the terminal building, and it also suggested an enclosed footbridge could be constructed. That application was made completely independently of Belfast City Airport, however, and I don't know whether they would be at all interested in contributing to the cost of that project.

NI has two other airports: Belfast International has the Lisburn/Antrim railway line that passes close to the airport perimeter, but no passenger services use it anymore; a more direct route between Belfast and Antrim (instead of going south via Lisburn) was re-opened with the Mossley Viaduct more than ten years ago.

1982 NI Railways map (Belfast International Airport is close to stations numbered 32 & 33) and 2005 NIR map (pdf).

A circular Belfast - Belfast train service via a new airport station and Antrim has been discussed, but right now money is being concentrated on upgrading the remainder of the Londonderry line and replacing the 450 'Castle' (aka 'Cattle') class trains on the Belfast / Larne line. You'd still face the decision about whether to build a spur into the International Airport or having a bus shuttle connecting the terminal with the station; it's not really close enough to walk.

The very scenic but until recently slow, unreliable and bumpy Belfast / Londonderry railway line passes by the perimeter of City of Derry airport. However it's on the wrong side of the airport for the terminal, and there is unlikely to be the passenger numbers from LDY to justify a station on that line.
 

Mojo

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Very interesting - I had no idea it was so out of town. I've only used it once a few years ago but we hired a car rather than taking the train as we weren't going into Glasgow city centre.

Would London City count, it is on a newly built DLR line but was never the final stop - I wouldn't hesitate to say that the new Woolwich Arsenal station is busier than that!

Funnily enough I was there back in July and was interested to see that the DLR station at Woolwich Arsenal has ticket gates manned by DLR staff - presumably to allow for easier interchange with Woolwich Arsenal BR station. Whilst the DLR exit was controlled by a gateline, the BR station was locked up and passengers sent through the side gate straight onto the platforms. Whilst it's pretty poor for a station like this to be unstaffed after 20.05, I would have thought that they would have made some effort to integrate the ticket halls and allow the (permenantly staffed) DLR station to at least be used as a gated entrance.
 

stut

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LCY was, for years, served by "Silvertown and London City Airport Station", giving a delightful culture shock to arriving bankers who thought they'd
stroll down to the station through the back streets of Silvertown, to find some overgrown tracks opposite a massive sugar factory, and some
'interesting' characters hanging around, waiting for the (at the time) half-hourly sevice.

Actually, I used to use this service quite a lot, even with the DLR link in place, when flying into LCY, as the connection to Highbury & Islington
was very handy. It got better to get to the station, when they build a new staircase down from the airport to one of the side streets.
 

j0hn0

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Dusseldorf have recently rebuilt their airport, interestingly with a suspended monorail to link to the Intercity station, located just by the runway. Rather than have intercity trains calling at the smaller S-bahn terminus

SkyTrain03.jpg

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SkyTrain07.jpg


This is similar to the "heathrow hub" that the dft want to have on the GWML and it works really well.

In Germany Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt are all recent additions which aren't termini. I always wondered why they built Stansted as a terminus. Same with Manchester, even the 3rd platform you have to think, thats a bit of a waste of space there.

Birmingham is a good UK example now they've put something else on the old maglev track. There is plenty of spare capacity there and it is a through station serving lots of purposes. Awful building though.

Leeds is just bl00dy terrible I tell thee. Having travelled to a fair few airports in my time, it really is the worlds most poorly connected. Unless you live at the end of the runway like I did for a year or so. :)
 
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