Continuing the EWR monorail subject, even if off the original topics
https://www.nj.com/news/2021/08/feds-ok ... orail.html
Fair use quote" The effort to replace Newark Liberty International Airport’s cantankerous 26-year-old monorail with a modern, more reliable AirTrain got a big boost from the Federal Aviation Administration, which green-lighted the plan."
Notable facts in the story:
The new monorail won't go to Terminal B (there will be some sort of 2200 (!!) feet long people mover, to be decided. I hope that's because Terminal B will eventually go away (next one to be replaced after Terminal A, which is to be within a year I think by "New Terminal A" (previously called Terminal One"). Perhaps more disturbing, the article says it won't go directly to terminal C, which I think will be around even longer. This is hard for me to believe given that United is by far the biggest user of Newark.
It would be built separate from the existing monorail. They have not yet decided if the new system will be trains with steel wheels, trains with rubber tires, and/or trains that are cable propelled.
The new one is supposed to be done by 2026, with construction starting in Q1 2022 and system testing in Q1 2025.
While this is overall good news, given that to the best of my knowledge (which admittedly isn't much) that don't have bids yet and don't know what type of system they want, I think we can say FUHGETABOUTIT with respect to construction starting in 6 months.