NYT event listing for Children's Museum, Nov 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document Access to An International Airport The Rail Link for Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport Air-rail links are becoming a central amenity for leading global airports. Currently, the gold standard of a successful airport access system is the Hong Kong Airport Railway, which provides direct service to the airport and has stimulated significant economic development in the areas near the rail stations. The Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok airport was opened in 1996, and is largely built on filled land. The Hong Kong Government made the strategic decision that more than 50% of all passenger trips to the airport should be made by rail. Direct rail access to the airport opened in 1998 and was built by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation ("MTRC"), an autonomous body wholly owned by the government of Hong Kong"! The Hong Kong Airport Railway is comprised of two types of rail access services. First, a dedicated high-speed rail service, the Airport Express Line("AEL"), provides efficient and convenient access to the downtown business districts of Kowloon and Central Hong Kong. Sccond, there is a regular rail rapid transit line (the Lantau line) that is a part of the citywide metro network and connects to other lines and transfer points. It is expected that 250,000 passengers will use the rail access system to the new airport per day. The Airport Express Line was designed to create the feeling that arriving at an AEL station is tantamount to arriving at Chep Lap Kok. Attractive features of the stations include high quality finishes, use of natural lighting, flight information displays, advance baggage check-in, and food service. The travel time to the air- port from Central Hong Kong is 23 minutes, and passengers experience a business class environment. The construction of the Airport Express Line spurred significant development of apartments, hotels and commercial buildings on the property surrounding the stations. Much of this development occurred on for- merly vacant land or landfill, which became valuable due to its linkage to the Airport Express Line. The MTRC purchased from the government ownership of sites above station depots and associated transport interchanges. The MTRC then developed the sites as joint ventures with private developers and its share of the profits was used to partially finance the railway. Property development on AEL-linked sites includes 24.8 million square feet of residential development, 6.6 million square feet of commercial space, 3.6 million square feet of retail space and 3.1 million square feet of hotel space and serviced apartments.? (lThe MRTC was privatized in June 2000 and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. (21 Alistair J. Budge Reid, Japan Railwvay and Transport Review 19:40. 10 Lower Manbartan Transportation Srategies Innoduction NYC-WTC_000143219