What's the Best U.S. Airport Train Station Design?
Travelers prioritize convenience over design
“Metro to [Washington Reagan National Airport] is hands down the best airport train experience in the U.S.,” I posted on social media a few months ago. As a resident of Washington, D.C., it is also the airport-rail link that I use most frequently.
That post elicited numerous responses. Most were in agreement: “LEAPS AND BOUNDS AND ETERNITIES BETTER” wrote
. But then Brad DiFiore wrote: “Hands down? [Atlanta] would like to have word!”And he was right. Whatever you think of MARTA, the airport station is part of the midfield terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. No bridge across a roadway, as at Washington National, needed.
So what is the best designed airport-rail connection in the U.S.? I took to social media to find out.
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Washington National “is excellent. Short distance, easy signage,” wrote Phil Keeve on X in one of the more than 107 responses I received to my query. Washington National, as you may have guessed, was the most popular airport-rail link in the U.S.
But the Metro station wasn’t always convenient. It opened in 1977, or 20 years before the Cesar Pelli-designed Terminal B/C, now Terminal 2. At that time, travelers had to meander along sidewalks and through parking lots between the station and the airport’s then main terminal, now Terminal 1.
“Passengers arriving by the Washington Metro system … enter through a connection directly on the concourse level, giving patrons of public transit, at least symbolically, an even closer tie to the terminal’s main civic space and it’s arrival and departure gates than passengers arriving by car have,” wrote Paul Goldberger in the introduction to Pelli’s monograph on the project, National Airport Terminal.
The Metro station became even more convenient for travelers when the airport opened new security checkpoints in 2021 on the concourse level adjacent to the two Metro entrances.
Travelers overwhelmingly preferred rail stations that are directly connected to, or part of, an airport terminal. Airports with these transit connections made up nine of the top 10 mentioned in responses to my query.
Airports with trams, people movers, or buses linking the terminal and train stations received far fewer if any mentions. Only Newark Liberty International Airport, with its AirTrain to a nearby Amtrak and NJ Transit station on the former’s Northeast Corridor main line, rounded out the top 10.
I wasn’t surprised. I mean, who wants to take a train (or bus) to the train from the plane?
“Not Boston lol,” wrote Threads user alexdperazzo. Boston Logan International Airport, despite being just across the harbor from downtown in a transit-rich city, only has bus connections to the T: either the bus rapid transit-light Silver Line to South Station (buses use the Ted Williams Tunnel and are subject to traffic conditions) or a free shuttle bus to the Airport station on the Blue Line.
But what of the actual design of these airport links? Brian Stokle, @urbanlifesigns on Threads, listed his top attributes: “Ease of use in finding. Ease of purchasing tickets and getting on the right train. Shelter for inclement weather if outside. Placemaking that shows the city is welcoming me as a new visitor through design, art, and color.”
“Denver International Airport ticks off all these boxes with the arched glass canopy and more,” he continued.
The Gensler-designed RTD rail station at the Denver airport opened in 2016 as part of a joint train station-hotel expansion of the terminal. And while distinctly separate from Fentress Architects’ distinct tented-terminal building (opened 1995), the station feels like a natural southern extension of the terminal — inviting visitors to Denver to hop aboard to Union Station.
The Denver airport station tied for sixth in responses to my airport-train connections query.
Not every popular airport train station takes design notes from its airport. The Metro station at Washington National, for example, is a Harry Weese-inspired concrete platform and canopy that is the opposite of the neo-gothic steel and glass terminal. Greater Greater Washington contributor Matt Johnson describes it as the “Gull I” style of Metro station designs for its seagull-like canopy.
The CTA L station at Chicago O’Hare International Airport is similarly a departure from the international style terminal complex. Designed by Murphy/Jahn and opened in 1984, the station is a colorful glass block bonanza under the parking garage in the center of terminals 1, 2, and 3, a short-ish walk from baggage claim. It’s both different and wonderful at the same time.
“The resulting kineticism of light, color and pattern highlights the movement of trains and passengers within the station,” wrote Architectural Record in May 1985. The colors follow a “subtle gradation” from red to violet that the firm at the time said signified the movement from “earth to sky.”
“A million times ORD,” wrote Instagram user aheidel in response to my query. “Rapid transit directly into the airport, walkable to (3/4 of) the terminals without the need for a people mover transfer. Plus the Murphy/Jahn design grows on you.”
The O’Hare station ranked second among the responses I received.
If there was one station whose ranking surprised me, it was the Rapid station at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The first airport train station in the U.S. when it opened in 1968, it is a utilitarian concrete box. But respondents praised it for its convenience.
“You’re just a few steps and a short escalator ride from ticketing/baggage claim, and best of all, you don’t have to go outside!” wrote Tom Horsman on X.
X user Ride Free Area added, “it’s pretty ideal.”
And as utilitarian as the station is, who doesn’t love the tile mosaic airplanes on the platform?
And then, of course, there is Atlanta. A last minute addition to the Stevens & Wilkinson, and SmithGroup-designed brutalist midfield terminal, the station was completed with the terminal in 1980. Trains, however, did not begin running until eight years later when MARTA completed its north-south line.
The station design? Brutal concrete like much the rest of the MARTA system but as an integral part of the airport.
To me, a really important attribute is frequency of the transit service. That’s where PHL loses major points; the design of the physical connection is fine, but the train only runs every 30 minutes, which is awful.
Anyway, glad to see my home DCA came out on top, as it should!
Nice roundup 👍
Really, the U.S. is far behind most other cities in the world on airport-city connections. The new LAX airport people mover will theoretically help the notorious congestion there, but you've got to switch to the Metro over a mile away, and then this line (the Crenshaw Line) doesn't directly go to any major destinations in LA. Hong Kong is the gold standard for city-airport rail connections, with downtown check in available, and a 25 min ride. In the U.S. I think Denver is probably the best, followed by SFO for the ease of getting to the Bart station in the international terminal. Why do U.S. airports persist in not just extending the actual transit line into the airport and go for quick (cheaper) but much less convenient air train solutions?