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Airport people-mover running (very) late
by Dan Olson, Minnesota Public Radio
January 15, 2004

Otis Elevator company's people-mover is 18 months behind schedule at the Twin Cities airport. (MPR Photo/Dan Olson)

A people-mover at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is still not moving any people, 18 months after being installed. The airport tram will carry passengers nearly a mile along one of the concourses. It's been out of commission for a year and half. The company installing the system is paying hefty penalties for the delay, and airport officials say it will be April before the tram will be working.

Minneapolis, Minn. — The problems started shortly after the tram was installed.

Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) project manager Denny Probst says during testing, two of the four cars collided. That was the first setback for the company installing the people-mover.

"They removed the two damaged vehicles -- essentially rebuilt them. They're all back on the system now," Probst says.

The tram is essentially a horizontal elevator. The steel wheeled cars are pulled along a concrete track by a huge cable.

	MAC's Denny Probst

When it's running, the tram will carry riders 3,300 feet along the C concourse. That's the gate area people see driving into the airport.

The people-mover is made by Connecticut-based Otis Elevator. Spokeswoman Tizz Weber says the company is confident there'll be no collisions in the future.

"All the issues that were associated with the testing incident in 2002 which caused the delay have been resolved, with permanent fail-safe design changes which have been certified by third parties," Weber says.

The MAC's Denny Probst says another factor in the delay is the complexity of the tram service. The four passenger cars share a portion of the track. The vehicles travel two at a time in opposite directions.

"Technically it's a loop, but there's no loop at the end," Probst says. "So the trains have to switch cables and go back, and, yes, that is an additional complexity to this system."

	Tram runs along C concourse

Another issue, Probst says, is the computer running the people-mover. Making the four automated cars stop, open doors, close doors, and start at all the appropriate times at all three stations is tricky.

"There are actually several different computer programs that are interlocked (to make sure) that all the door switches are property closed, that everything is exactly is the way it's supposed to be before it's allowed to move," he says.

All those systems have to be working, Probst says, and they have work every time before the airport will allow the service to carry people.

"They have to run over a 30-day period, and they have to average at least a 98.5 percent reliability for the vehicles," he says.

So far, the system reliablity isn't that high. Probst says the company is in the next testing period.

The 18-month delay has proved expensive for Otis Elevator. The company is paying the MAC $4,000 for each day the tram isn't operating. So far the total is $2.5 million, on a contract totaling about $17 million.

"They've also expended a year and half of additional time and labor out here," Probst says. "So we're quite certain that they're feeling some pretty extreme pain. But I will say, on their behalf, that they've hung in here and they're doing it right."

Otis Elevator has trams and people-movers operating in cities, parking lots and airports around the world. Airport officials at Detroit and Cincinnati say the Otis-built trams there began service on time, within budget and have had no operating problems.

The other Twin Cities airport people-mover built by Otis was six months late in getting started. It carries riders from the Lindbergh terminal to the transit center.

While the new people-mover is being tested for reliablity, people are walking, use horizontal escalators or riding driver-operated electric golf carts supplied by the airlines.

The MAC's Denny Probst says, in hindsight, the automated people-mover is still a good idea. It's preferable, he argues, to a human-operated service that would also be prone to error.

He says the popularity of the first people-mover shows riders like the service.

"Even though we had the difficulties getting that system open -- once the bugs were worked out and it did open for public service -- it's been a tremendous amenity for passengers," Probst says.

Making people comfortable is a big part of the MAC's strategy to help fund its operations. It's the country's seventh-busiest airport, and it's become a shopping center for airline passengers. Revenue from the businesses and the parking ramps make up a significant share of the MAC's budget.

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