Trains, Planes, And Autos, Too: Making The Connection
Florida’s Brightline gets it right: It ties into the airport at Orlando. As do (or will soon do) a number of other passenger rail services, namely at Baltimore-Washington (BWI), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), Newark (EWR), Phoenix (PHX), San Francisco (SFO), and numerous others located throughout the land. It’s a relationship, or if I may be so bold, a strategic partnership, that makes incredible sense!
I remember when traveling from Fresno to Baltimore back in the 1980s, being dropped off by car at Fresno’s Amtrak station, boarding a San Joaquin to Richmond, California’s shared ATK-BART (Amtrak-Bay Area Rapid Transit) station, switching trains there to get to the latter’s Oakland International Airport station and then getting on a roadway-based shuttle that got me to the airport.
What would have been even better is if the roadway-based shuttle was replaced with a track-based people mover. Well, the good news? It was!
The idea here is to have as much a seamless service to and from the airport as possible. A great advantage of having such capability is not having to park one’s personal vehicle in long-term airport parking. Of course, relying on a ride-hailing service to satisfy the first-mile/last-mile portion of trips is always an option. So, there’s that too.
The one thing missing here though, is that there aren’t more opportunities in the United States to “take the train” to/from the airport. Hopefully, that’s in the offing!
Updated: Jul. 2, 2025 at 7:40 a.m. PDT.
All material copyrighted 2025, Alan Kandel. All Rights Reserved.
I’ve taken the JFK AirTrain, which connects the airport with Jamaica Station (LIRR, E,J,Z) and Howard Beach station (A). It is fast, smooth, and frequent.