The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded a joint venture between Tutor Perini Corp. and O&G Industries a $1.18 billion contract to replace the AirTrain at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
The project includes designing and constructing a 2.5-mile elevated, automated people-mover train system with three stations to replace the AirTrain, which has operated since 1996. The joint venture firm has collaborated on 11 large infrastructure projects nationwide, including transportation projects for the Los Angeles Metro, the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles International Airport and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The Board voted to increase the project budget to $3.5 billion, adding $1.45 billion to the previously approved amount of $2.05 billion. NorthJersey.com reported that the board previously approved $570 million for the Austrian-based Duppelmayr Group to design and build the automated people-mover system.
AirTrain Newark is the main travel option for millions of Newark Liberty passengers to transfer between three airport terminals, parking and rental car facilities, and regional rail transit via the Newark Airport Rail Link station, which connects to NJ Transit and Amtrak rail service on the Northeast Corridor line.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the AirTrain carried an average of 33,000 passengers per day or roughly 12 million per year. Year to date, AirTrain Newark served nearly 5.5 million passengers in 2024, with the vast majority using the system on-airport to transfer among airport facilities.
The updated budget will be offset by deferred spending from the PATH rail extension project, as well as other cost-saving measures such as value engineering, reduced project scope and other deferred or reduced spending on other projects in the agency’s 2017-2026 Capital Plan.
