Airports not served by rail

[signed]

Moderator Note - split from:

Dublin airport rail link given go ahead

Ireland rail link from Dublin airport to city centre / Charlemont with northern section to Estuary/ Swords A transport project which will link Dublin city centre to its airport has been given the go ahead, Ireland's planning board An Coimisiún Pleanála has announced. The Metrolink plan is...

www.railforums.co.uk

With Dublin underway, aren't all major airports in Europe now all served with some kind of rail service?

Prague isn't but the link is planned

 

[geoffk]

With Dublin underway, aren't all major airports in Europe now all served with some kind of rail service?

Prague isn't but the link is planned

Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol are not (how do you define "major"?).

 

[signed]

Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol are not (how do you define "major"?).

The ones in the Top 25 of the busiest airports? I think it's fair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe

And even if we go down to Top 50, only Marseille (public bus away), Alicante (though planned), Palma de Mallorca, Bergamo, Naples, Catania (public bus away), Venice, Prague don't have a rail connection

 

[The exile]

The ones in the Top 25 of the busiest airports? I think it's fair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe

Surprised to find Bergamo above Prague on that list. It also has no rail link.

 

[geoffk]

Surprised to find Bergamo above Prague on that list. It also has no rail link.

Interesting to see Dublin high up at no. 13.

 

[EAD]

The ones in the Top 25 of the busiest airports? I think it's fair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe

And even if we go down to Top 50, only Marseille (public bus away), Alicante (though planned), Palma de Mallorca, Bergamo, Naples, Catania (public bus away), Venice, Prague don't have a rail connection

Just to note Catania does have a station, which opened to the public on 13 March 2021. There is a shuttle bus to the terminal but it is only 700m walk. Handy for direct trains towards Messina or Siracusa if the timings work for your flight.

The airport is well served by coaches as well as the Alibus into the city. These also serve destinations you can get to by train.

 

[Beebman]

The ones in the Top 25 of the busiest airports? I think it's fair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe

And even if we go down to Top 50, only Marseille (public bus away), Alicante (though planned), Palma de Mallorca, Bergamo, Naples, Catania (public bus away), Venice, Prague don't have a rail connection

A rail link to Venice Airport is under construction but the project is running late, it's being discussed in this thread: Rail to Venice Airport

 

[matt]

Budapest isn't rail linked

 

[D1511]

The ones in the Top 25 of the busiest airports? I think it's fair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Europe

And even if we go down to Top 50, only Marseille (public bus away), Alicante (though planned), Palma de Mallorca, Bergamo, Naples, Catania (public bus away), Venice, Prague don't have a rail connection

I doubt a rail link to Palma would stack up financially.......I'd say at least 80% of the passengers that use the airport annually get whisked off to some ghastly coastal hotel in an air conditioned coach and have no need for any independent travel options. It could be useful for Mallorquins I suppose, but the express buses are already quite good.

 

[Crithylum]

I went to Prague a few weeks ago. The electric trolleybus from the airport to the metro was far more comfortable than the metro itself. Although new trains would make the metro as comfortable and much faster.

 

[gordonthemoron]

And Melbourne VIC still hasn’t got a train link

 

[Ballyheigue]

None of the Airports in the Irish Republic have a rail link which is pretty staggering considering how popular Ireland is with American tourists.

 

[Segedunum]

Palma has a rail link planned - albeit a few years away yet:

The cost of the project, providing it does finally go ahead, will be completed by 2032. The route will be 27.4 kilometres long, of which 7.3 kilometres will run underground. The route of the future line will leave Palma underground from the Son Costa-Son Fortesa station, located in calle Jacint Verdaguer and currently a train stop for Inca and sa Pobla.

The rail network there is pretty decent for an island of its size - it's just a shame that the weekend service is so naff!

 

[AdamWW]

None of the Airports in the Irish Republic have a rail link which is pretty staggering considering how popular Ireland is with American tourists.

Wouldn't they be more likely to hire a car at the airport rather than expect a rail link into town?

 

[station_road]

None of the Airports in the Irish Republic have a rail link which is pretty staggering considering how popular Ireland is with American tourists.

Although as mentioned in the first post in this thread, a metro line to Dublin Airport was announced today

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yqr11240eo

A transport project which will link Dublin city centre to its airport has been given the go ahead, Ireland's planning board An Coimisiún Pleanála has announced.
The Metrolink plan is expected to come into operation by the early 2030s and could cost €9.5bn (£8.16bn).
It aims to connect the north and south sides of the city and will be 19.4km in length with 16 stations mostly underground.
The Irish Department of Transport said there would be trains running every three minutes at peak times, capable of carrying up to 20,000 passengers per hour in each direction.

Being discussed here https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/dublin-metro-given-the-go-ahead.292861/

 

[D1511]

Palma has a rail link planned - albeit a few years away yet:



The rail network there is pretty decent for an island of its size - it's just a shame that the weekend service is so naff!

Thanks for that, although I see it runs on to Llucmayor, so it's more of a suburban expansion of the network with a stop at the airport than a dedicated spur to the airport. I did wonder what route it took to take 27km to get from central Palma to C'an Pastilla!

It is a great little network though. I can get the Lluc bus into Inca from Caimari and hop on the train into Palma for a meal in sa Premsa and back again!

 

[coupwotcoup]

No rail connection between Girona airport and town, although I suspect the lack of many links around the world could be pressure from local taxi drivers.

I believe in some countries, these guys pay a fortune for their 'ticket' and see the iron horse as a major threat to any future income.

 

[stadler]

There are still quite a few major airports with no railways serving them.

Reykjavik in Iceland has no rail station.

Kaunas in Lithuania has no rail station.

Riga in Latvia has no rail station.

Tallinn in Estonia has a rail station located a ten minute walk from the terminal. So i still count this as being connected. It is not an official airport station but it is so close that it basically functions as an airport station.

Paris Beauvais and Paris Vatry have no rail stations.

Skopje in Macedonia has no rail station.

Belgrade in Serbia has no rail station.

Sarajevo in Bosnia has no rail station.

Zagreb in Croatia has no rail station.

Ljubljana in Slovenia has no rail station.

Bratislava in Slovakia has no rail station.

Prague in Czech Republic has no rail station.

Luxembourg has no rail station. But it is linked by tram if that counts. I think there is a plan to eventually build a railway line and station there.

One of the four airports in Moscow (Zhukovsky) still has no rail connection and requires a bus to the local station. Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo) still has no rail connection and requires a bus to the local station. Kaliningrad still has no rail connection and requires a bus ride.

Minsk has no rail connection and requires a bus ride. There is actually a railway line and airport station but it is disused. They previously ran an extremely infrequent service that nobody used. So a railway line and station exists but no service.

None of the airports in New Zealand have any railway station.

Cape Town in South Africa has no railway station and no public transport at all.

Chisinau in Moldova has no rail station.

There is still a lot of work to be done to connect all of these major airports to the railway networks.

 

[peteb]

There are a lot of airports which are close to railways but lack a dedicated station: Béziers and Girona being two examples where you can see the trains passing by from the airport terminals!

 

[daodao]

There are still quite a few major airports with no railways serving them.

Reykjavik in Iceland has no rail station.

Kaunas in Lithuania has no rail station.

Riga in Latvia has no rail station.

Tallinn in Estonia has a rail station located a ten minute walk from the terminal. So i still count this as being connected. It is not an official airport station but it is so close that it basically functions as an airport station.

Paris Beauvais and Paris Vatry have no rail stations.

Skopje in Macedonia has no rail station.

Belgrade in Serbia has no rail station.

Sarajevo in Bosnia has no rail station.

Zagreb in Croatia has no rail station.

Ljubljana in Slovenia has no rail station.

Bratislava in Slovakia has no rail station.

Prague in Czech Republic has no rail station.

Luxembourg has no rail station. But it is linked by tram if that counts. I think there is a plan to eventually build a railway line and station there.

One of the four airports in Moscow (Zhukovsky) still has no rail connection and requires a bus to the local station. Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo) still has no rail connection and requires a bus to the local station. Kaliningrad still has no rail connection and requires a bus ride.

Minsk has no rail connection and requires a bus ride. There is actually a railway line and airport station but it is disused. They previously ran an extremely infrequent service that nobody used. So a railway line and station exists but no service.

None of the airports in New Zealand have any railway station.

Cape Town in South Africa has no railway station and no public transport at all.

Chisinau in Moldova has no rail station.

There is still a lot of work to be done to connect all of these major airports to the railway networks.

Some of the airports mentioned in your post aren't busy enough to warrant a fixed electrified local transport link. However:
Tallinn Airport has a tram service (currently suspended).
Chisinau, Prague and Sarajevo airports have trolleybus services.

 

[Trainguy34]

Paris Beauvais and Paris Vatry have no rail stations.

Well if we're including that then surely we have to include (not very) London Lydd Airport, with the old line to Dungeness at it's southern end but no passenger service on said line.

 

[The exile]

I went to Prague a few weeks ago. The electric trolleybus from the airport to the metro was far more comfortable than the metro itself. Although new trains would make the metro as comfortable and much faster.

I believe the rail connection is to be heavy rail (it’s been “on the cards” for at least 15 years already, though things are now beginning to happen.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 3 Oct 2025 ==

There are a lot of airports which are close to railways but lack a dedicated station: Béziers and Girona being two examples where you can see the trains passing by from the airport terminals!

This used to be the case at Luebeck - which regained its station just in time to lose its commercial flights!

 

[alex397]

This used to be the case at Luebeck - which regained its station just in time to lose its commercial flights!

It does now have a Ryanair flight to London Stansted, as well as to Malaga and Mallorca.

 

[The exile]

It does now have a Ryanair flight to London Stansted, as well as to Malaga and Mallorca.

So has taken 25 years to get back to where it started!

 

[leshuttle]

Across South America, São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport in Brazil is currently the only one served directly by a metro line. Santiago, Chile is expected to join it in the coming years, with plans underway to extend the city’s metro network to the airport.

 

[TravelDream]

Glasgow, Liverpool and Bristol are not (how do you define "major"?).

Liverpool has, what, 5-6 million passengers per year. Certainly not major.

Though defining major is a question. Arguably, it depends on a lot of different things, but I'd say you'd be looking at 20+ million passengers per annum to be major.

There are 30 airports in Europe which meet that criteria including four in the UK (Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted). All four UK ones have a rail link

Looking at the top 30 in Europe, Dublin (34.6 million passengers in 2024) is the largest without a rail link. Now, Britain is bad at infrastructure, but the Republic of Ireland is somehow even worse. Though one is now planned as the first post indicated. Still, it's likely not going to be operational for close to a decade.
Palma is the second largest without a rail link. The issue they have is Palma is highly seasonal and a significant number of tourists are heading off on coaches to the myriad of beach resorts on the island. Still, one is also planned and is could be open by 2032. But the vast majority of 20 million passenger plus airports have a rail link.



Alternatively, it'd be interesting to find out the smallest airport served by rail and the smallest served by a dedicated rail link.
Olsztyn Airport in Poland served 142k passengers in 2023 and that has a dedicated rail link spur. I think there are six trains a week which serve the airport with some, but not all flights, linked to a service.

In the UK, we have Teeside Airport Railway Station which serves Teeside International. Teeside Airport served 228k passengers last year. Though the train station is closed (or 'temporarily' closed); and the airport is well over a mile from the station which hardly makes it an airport station in my opinion despite the name.
The smallest in the UK is probably Southampton Airport (631k in 2024) which has Southampton Airport Parkway just next door.

 

[enginedin]

Glasgow, Liverpool

these both have a dedicated bus link to the nearest train station which I've seen referred to as "Paisley, for Glasgow Airport", and "Liverpool South Parkway, for Liverpool Airport" - the bus journey for both is probably quicker than the bus from some airport carparks to the terminal building!

 

[d9009alycidon]

Alternatively, it'd be interesting to find out the smallest airport served by rail and the smallest served by a dedicated rail link.
Olsztyn Airport in Poland served 142k passengers in 2023 and that has a dedicated rail link spur. I think there are six trains a week which serve the airport with some, but not all flights, linked to a service.

In the UK, we have Teeside Airport Railway Station which serves Teeside International. Teeside Airport served 228k passengers last year. Though the train station is closed (or 'temporarily' closed); and the airport is well over a mile from the station which hardly makes it an airport station in my opinion despite the name.
The smallest in the UK is probably Southampton Airport (631k in 2024) which has Southampton Airport Parkway just next door.

Prestwick Airport wins hands down, half a dozen flights a day but trains to Glasgow and Ayr every half hour

 

[The exile]

Prestwick Airport wins hands down, half a dozen flights a day but trains to Glasgow and Ayr every half hour

In the UK maybe- I would imagine there are airports elsewhere that just happen to have a railway station (whose raison d’etre may not actually be the airport) but have far fewer flights. The interesting one is the dedicated airport link…

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Alternatively, it'd be interesting to find out the smallest airport served by rail and the smallest served by a dedicated rail link.
Olsztyn Airport in Poland served 142k passengers in 2023 and that has a dedicated rail link spur. I think there are six trains a week which serve the airport with some, but not all flights, linked to a service.

In the UK, we have Teeside Airport Railway Station which serves Teeside International. Teeside Airport served 228k passengers last year. Though the train station is closed (or 'temporarily' closed); and the airport is well over a mile from the station which hardly makes it an airport station in my opinion despite the name.
The smallest in the UK is probably Southampton Airport (631k in 2024) which has Southampton Airport Parkway just next door.

Aalborg Aiport in Denmark, c 500,000 passengers p.a. , has a hourly service to Aalborg City and on to Copenhagen. The airport station opened in 2020, but loadings have been very disappointing - DSB is talking about chopping the service back.