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The opening on april 19 of the world's latest airport rail link--kuala lumpur's express rail link--focuses attention on the growth market of airport rail connections. passengers on these links have special needs which have led operators to develop new concepts and refine old ones for product improvements such as ticketing, baggage handling, and business-to-business relationships.

THE concept of ticketing is to separate the sheep who have paid from the goats who have not. Some airport railways, such as Arriva Northern's service to Manchester airport in Britain, also do other jobs and have tended to retain conventional ticketing. Others, in particular the new dedicated airport express services, have introduced new systems.

Electronic tickets--e-tickets--are being used on both Arlanda Express in Stockholm and the Flytoget airport express in Oslo. Holders of the SAS Corporate Pass, a card pre-loaded with several air tickets, can use it to travel on Arlanda Express. SAS pays Arlanda Express for the journeys made. One passenger recorded more than 300 journeys in one year. Arlanda Express, like London's Gatwick Express, obviously has its commuters! On Oslo's Flytoget, passengers can use both the SAS Corporate Pass and the WingsCard of Braathens, Norway's national airline. The airlines are invoiced for each journey made. Wings-Card holders also earn air miles for each train journey.

Although bmi British Midland sells tickets from Glasgow to London Paddington via Heathrow, through air-rail tickets are uncommon because of major systems incompatibilities and charging issues. However, low-cost airlines like Buzz, easyJet and Ryanair sell discounted tickets for their local air-rail link.

Hong Kong's Airport Express ticketing is incorporated into that of its owner, Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC), which also operates the metro. Hong Kong has a population of 6 million, but there are 7 million valid Octopus smart cards in circulation. They can be used on most buses, ferries and trains in the Special Administrative Region; they can also be used for purchases from 7-11 stores. When passengers use the Octopus Card or an ordinary ticket on Airport Express, any associated ride on the conventional rail network is free.

One of many fascinating features of Hong Kong's old airport in Hong Kong harbour was the crowd of meeters and greeters who turned up for each flight arrival. This happens much less at the new airport, 34km from the centre, but it still occurs. To encourage it, Airport Express charges the single fare for a same-day return.

This wouldn't work at airports with substantial day return business as there would be a loss of revenue from those travelling on short-haul flights. Heathrow Express gets round the problem by selling two special low-price day return tickets at Paddington, one issued from 05.00 and valid for return before 15.00, and the other sold from midday and valid until the last train. Heathrow Express also sells carnets, usually 12 journeys for the price of 10. By popular demand, these are transferable, making them a good buy for companies using Heathrow frequently.

In-Town Check-in

In-town check-in, and the less common in-town check-out, is aimed at maximising passenger convenience and encouraging passengers with heavy baggage away from the private car or taxi. The volume of luggage undoubtedly influences modal choice. The pioneer was London Victoria station, where British Caledonian and its successor airlines have operated in-town check-in since 1962. British Airways and its associates are on the first floor, adjacent to the taxi drop-off. American Airlines is at platform level, and being newer, its operation is more mechanised. However, in-town check-in was seriously affected by the events of September 11 and the ensuing ban on off-airport check-in, which is only slowly being lifted.

It is widely recognised that the present systems used by Gatwick Express are suboptimal. Enhancement awaits major decisions on the future shape of London Victoria and Gatwick Airport stations and the London--Brighton main line--one of the busiest in Britain--the northern part of which is used by Gatwick Express

The check-in/out system used by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) is also low-tech, but comprehensive and steadily growing. Inbound passengers can buy a green customs declaration form for SFr 20 ($US 11.78) from Swiss Tourist Offices and other outlets. The form is attached to the passenger's bag to ensure that it is transported by rail from Zurich or Geneva airports to the final destination station in Switzerland. It works outbound too. An increasing number of stations have facilities to issue a boarding card for the flight and check hold baggage through to most destinations around the world.

A disadvantage of the Swiss system is the significant difference between the time the passenger and the passenger's checked luggage reach the destination station. If a passenger arrives at Zurich late in the evening, for example, the bag is unlikely to reach the final destination the same day. Enter the Flugzug (fly-train) project. Here designated trains run directly from Basle to Zurich Airport, bypassing Zurich main station in the interests of speed. Using these trains, passengers can check-in their bags up to half an hour before departure of the last train connecting with their flights. The concept will be extended.

The in-town check-in systems of Heathrow Express and Hong Kong's Airport Express are outwardly similar. Passengers take their bags to London Paddington for Heathrow Express, or Hong Kong or Kowloon stations for Airport Express. Airline staff take them, tag them, ask the standard security questions and give passengers their boarding card. Bags are transported to the airport in sealed containers in secure accommodation on board the train. On arrival at the airport the bags are conveyed to the airport sorting system where they are screened in the same way as transfer bags.

The differences are behind the scenes. Heathrow Express containers are manually loaded on and off trains. This is done by teams of staff, trained specially in the necessary handling techniques.

In Hong Kong, the system is highly automated. Containers move automatically on a roller bed system. When a train arrives at Chek Lap Kok, the train doors and platform screen doors open. A section of roller bed moves vertically and horizontally to ensure containers are aligned precisely with the train doors. The containers are then moved automatically into and along the train to slots just vacated by empty containers unloaded through the next door by a similar process. An advantage of the Hong Kong system is that much larger containers can be used. The limitation is the door size, not the mass which can be physically manhandled in a relatively confined space.

Heathrow Express pioneered Baggage Direct, an in-town baggage delivery service. Passengers can leave their bags at a desk by the Heathrow Express ticket offices at the airport and, on payment of a small fee, have them transported to anywhere in central London within 3 hours. The bags use the vacant space in the returning checked baggage containers. Bags travelling in both directions are monitored by bar-coded tags: the technology means that Baggage Direct customers can monitor the progress of their luggage. This enables passengers flying into Heathrow to send their bags to their hotel and go unencumbered to their conference or meeting. They can also use their mobile phone to check not only that their bag is at their hotel, but also what their room number is!

Good though this is, it is not true in-town check-out. Kuala Lumpur's Express Rail Link will have in-town check-in probably from day 1. In-town check-out (where passengers can check their bags from New York or Frankfurt to Kuala Lumpur Sentral station) will follow when the airport equipment has been modified to enable this to be done reliably in an acceptable time. Bags will be transferred from plane to train at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, offloaded at Sentral station and put onto conveyors leading to two airport style baggage reclaim belts.

It is not possible to guarantee that they will be on the same train as the passenger, but the latest they will be available is half an hour (two trains) after the passenger s arrival. Customs facilities are provided at Sentral station. IARO, incidentally, is organising a conference in Kuala Lumpur on October 28-30 where it will be possible to see some of this in action.

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