Per the Orlando Sentinel:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-airport-monorail-orlando-20130116,0,5044032.story (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-airport-monorail-orlando-20130116,0,5044032.story)
Orlando International Airport moved closer to building a new monorail Wednesday when its board picked a trio of consultants for the $181 million project.
The system, similar to ones already shuttling passengers between the main terminal and the four airsides, could initially serve a new parking garage and train depot by 2015.
Farther in the future, the mile-long, elevated system could act as a ferry to a new, second southern terminal near what is now a parking lot for people waiting for planes to land.
"We are not there yet, but we are headed there," OIA director Phil Brown said of the people mover.
Before work can begin in earnest, the board is seeking the approval of major airlines using the airport, a finance plan and an agreement with All Aboard Florida, a Coral Gables company that wants to link OIA with South Florida by train.
The OIA board, by a 7-0 vote, appointed general consultant SchenkelShultz Architecture, based in North Carolina but with offices in Orlando, to oversee the possible work. It would be paid almost $800,000.
The board also hired Winter Park attorney Christi Underwood and Lea Elliott, Inc., an international company specializing in mass transit. The price for the last two contracts has not been negotiated.
Triggering construction will be two factors, OIA officials say:
•The demand for more space on airport property by rental-car companies. OIA also is considering building a 3,500-car parking garage that would cost almost $170 million. It would be linked to the new people mover.
•The announcement of last year by All Aboard Florida that it intends to run a train with stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and OIA. The $1.5 billion, privately financed operation could be running by 2015. A train depot costing an estimated $40 million would be attached to the garage. It is unclear how much All Aboard Florida would pay for that.
If OIA goes ahead with the people mover and garage, it also would be responsible for road and other infrastructure costs of about $78 million. That would bring the project total to nearly $470 million.
Those structures also could serve the second terminal, which has been long discussed at OIA, but frequently postponed because of inconsistent passenger counts. That could cost $1 billion or more.
About 35 million people use OIA annually, and officials say service would begin to deteriorate at 40 million, with lines becoming unmanageable at 45 million to 50 million. OIA could reach 45 million between 2017 and 2022, airport projections indicate.
Building and opening a terminal could take as long as five years.
Financing remains unsettled, although OIA could sell bonds, seek federal and state grants, spend cash reserves and use surcharges on airline tickets and rental cars to pay for the work.
It's great to see the chips continue to fall in place with this AAF project.
Yes it is interesting to watch, but the news paper doesn't know a monorail from a canoe! Sad how passenger rail became so irrelevant in America that while a typical reporter or guy on the street could tell you he flew in a Boeing 747-8 or a Bombardier CRJ or Airbus A300, he regularly crumbles into expressive dysphasia with statements like "Amtrak Commuter Streetcars" with "Monorail Intercity Steam Engines," or, "Monorail Elevated Guideway People Movers." The same reporter in 1955 could have easily identified the railroad company, route, train and accommodation he used.