New tunnel expansion aims to speed up Atlanta airport's Plane Train

ATLANTA - A big project is underway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, but you'd never know by looking at it.

Teams are working 60 feet below the busiest airport in the world on a tunnel expansion.

The 833-foot tunnel is going to make getting around the airport faster and more efficient, and the work it's taking to make it happen is pretty unbelievable.

"The goal is to increase the capacity of the Plane Train," says Tom Nissalke, the assistant general manager of planning and development.

Airport officials say the upgrade will allow the time between trains to decrease from 108 seconds to 90 seconds. Those 18 seconds translates to a 20% increase in passenger capacity and a 20% decrease of time between trains.

The work to get to this point has been explosive.

"Two hundred and eight was the number of blasts we did. That contains our shaft blasting as well as our tunnel blasting," says project manager Gabrielle Ferro.

Crews measured those blasts with the same kind of equipment used to measure earthquakes. While up on the surface, no one could feel a thing.

"The entire project will be done in mid-2024," Ferro says.

The project comes with a $331 million price tag. There are also plans to add three more trains, which should be online by the end of 2025.