Alstom has signed a €200 million contract with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to provide operations and maintenance services for its automated people mover (APM) system for the next 10 years.

Under the contract, Alstom will provide preventive and corrective maintenance of the system’s 64 Innovia APM 200 vehicles, subsystems, and related components. These include switches, power distribution, station doors, public address announcements, and station signage.

Alstom will also be responsible for the maintenance of the 8 km elevated dual-lane guideway, known as Skylink. This includes the running surface, guide beam, and 3rd rail power, and the related switches, power distribution, guideway heating systems, and Automatic Train Control equipment.

Skylink, on which Alstom and DFW have been working together since 2000, provides convenient passenger travel in either direction between all five terminals, A, B, C, D and E, on comfortable, climate-controlled Innovia APM vehicles.

Alstom has provided maintenance support for the SkyLink system since it opened on May 21, 2005, and has achieved outstanding results in availability, exceeding 99% each year, carrying more than 20 million passengers annually, pre-pandemic.

Innovia APM is a driverless transportation system specially designed to serve airports and dense urban areas. It offers quick, comfortable, and convenient service for commuters within cities, to and from airports, or between airport terminals. The Innovia APM cars operate on dedicated guideways underground, at ground level, or on an elevated track. This ensures the system does not interfere with surrounding road or runway traffic.

Michael Keroullé, President Alstom Americas Region, said “We are incredibly pleased and proud to extend our partnership with Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The customer’s renewed trust in Alstom proves our operations and maintenance expertise in helping customers provide efficient, reliable, and safe service for their end users.”

Sean Donohue, Chief Executive Officer of DFW Airport, said “DFW is the most connected airport in the world, and Skylink helps our customers navigate easily between terminals.,”

“Ensuring Skylink is properly maintained and operational is essential to the customer experience.”

Alstom is the leading private rail operator in North America. It has 50 years of experience in designing, building, operating, and maintaining automated transit systems for airports and cities in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. In the United States, Alstom supports automated transit systems at airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Las Vegas, New York, Newark, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tampa, as well as Houston. As part of LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS), Alstom will operate and maintain the new automated people mover system under construction at Los Angeles International Airport.

Alstom has a long-standing track record of providing operations and maintenance services to transit systems, including more than a dozen across the United States and Canada. Its comprehensive services portfolio also includes modernisation, parts, repairs, overhauls, and digital and support services.