Washington Dulles finally gets its underground train system working

Ever flown through Washington Dulles airport? Well, then you’ve probably spent some time being shuttled between terminals on their horrible “mobile lounges”.

These people movers really are a pain in the backside – they are slow, uncomfortable and a really good way to show just how backwards US airports are, especially to international passengers. And I’m not even the first person here on Gadling to write about how much I hate them.

Next month the damn things may finally be put to rest, as the Dulles AeroTrain is expected to enter service. Like many infrastructure projects, the AeroTrain has been plagued by delays, mainly because of safety requirements.

The automated trains had to operate (without passengers) for 30 days, without any accidents or other “mishaps”. Sadly, the first attempt at a 30 day trial run only lasted 18 days. But now it finally cleared its final hurdle, and may actually be ready for business in January. Fingers crossed!