Type People mover Stations 8 | Status Operational Daily ridership 8,000 | |
Locale George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas Termini Terminal A (west)
Terminal D / E (east) | ||
The Subway (formerly known as the inter-terminal train) at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, (IAH) is the older of the two separate inter-terminal people movers operating at the airport. Opened with the airport, the train system was replaced in 1981 with the current WEDway system, a people mover system built by WED Transportation Systems, a division of what is now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. The Subway serves landside traffic, unlike the newer Skyway which operates airside.
The Subway is the only WEDway people mover built by the Walt Disney Company outside of a Disney property. It uses much of the mechanical technology used by the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, an attraction in the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland. The design permits the trains to make tight corners that are necessary along portions of the basement route, and is unusual in that on-train station announcements and audible warning messages are actually provided by a trackside audio system through openings in the tops of the vehicle carbodies. The train operates in a circuit, stopping at every terminal as well as the Houston Airport Hotel before returning to its starting point. The system is currently maintained and operated by JBT Aerotech.
The airport is conducting preliminary studies of potential new systems to replace the Subway, as both Houston Airport System and major airlines serving the airport have determined that the cost of operating and maintaining the system is no longer viable.