Hartsfield-Jackson Plane Train track repairs continue

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport hopes to reduce downtime from outages by spending $25 million to upgrade its 34-year-old people-mover known as the Plane Train.

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport hopes to reduce downtime from outages by spending $25 million to upgrade its 34-year-old people-mover known as the Plane Train.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's Plane Train people-mover track is still undergoing repairs after part of the rail was damaged Sunday.

Plane Train contractor Bombardier Transportation is "making progress" with repairs going on at night, according to Hartsfield-Jackson spokeswoman Elise Durham.

At night, the Plane Train will be operating “limited shuttle service” between Concourses T and E, according to  Durham. People “will have to walk to Baggage Claim,” she added, and Bombardier Transportation representatives will be on hand to tell passengers.

During the day, the Plane Train is operating an alternate route with the train going from the Terminal North station to South baggage claim instead of North baggage claim, but there is “no adverse impact to the passengers,” according to Durham.

The problem was caused Sunday when a metal plate on a switch near North baggage claim broke off, causing a train to damage the rail on the north side of the track by the domestic terminal.

A train got stuck on the track, temporarily stopping all train movements since the trains normally move in a loop.

About 25 feet of rail on the Plane Train people-mover track was damaged, disrupting service for passengers moving between the terminals and concourses.

The Plane Train went out of service at 9:46 a.m. Sunday, according to Durham.

When the Plane Train goes out of service, more passengers end up walking between the terminals and concourses to get to their flights or to baggage claim.

Limited Plane Train “shuttle” service at 10:18 a.m., with trains moving between some concourses but not reaching all the way to the domestic terminal. Service was fully restored at 2:22 p.m. Sunday.

The stuck train was removed and some rail was replaced to allow the system to operate on an alternate route.

Durham said the airport and Plane Train contractor Bombardier are investigating the cause of the failure of the metal plate.