New shuttle cars for Airsides A and C rolling along at Tampa International Airport

Pairs of upgraded cars are scheduled to begin arriving from the factory this year for installation on refurbished guideways.

Travelers headed to Airsides A and C at Tampa International Airport will be getting an up-close look at new shuttles that are scheduled to arrive later this year.

Brand-new Blue shuttle cars earmarked for Airside A are in the final stages of testing by Alstom, the same company that manufactured the current cars and the original shuttles TPA used when it opened in 1971.

Those cars are due to be delivered later this year, with the Blue cars for Airside C to follow.

The new shuttle cars are sleek, updated versions of the of the automated-tech originally made famous by TPA’s hub-and-spoke layout. While these vehicles will be brand new, the passenger journey aboard the shuttles will continue to be the familiar, efficient experience TPA travelers expect.

“Our current shuttle cars were designed and engineered in the late ‘80s and have performed admirably over their nearly 25-year life span at our airport,” said Matthew Deloatche, TPA Senior Manager of Design for the Airport’s Planning & Development department. “Knowing how vital these cars are to the success of our facility, we are ecstatic to unveil the next generation of TPA’s transit to our guests and the Tampa Bay community.”

Airside shuttle testing 9Construction crews have been working for months to replace bearing pads and refurbish the concrete guideways, or tracks, the shuttles use to roll to the Airsides. The work has necessitated single-shuttle operations at both Airsides while the project progresses.

Once the new cars start to arrive, the old Blue shuttles will be removed and the new shuttles will be lifted onto the guideways with a crane (overnight) so that they can be put into use while factory production of the Red shuttles is completed.

The new APM-300R shuttles are currently being tested at the Pittsburgh-area production facility for Alstom, the same company that manufactured the current cars, which have rolled back and forth for about 1 million miles since being commissioned in the 1990s, and the original shuttles TPA featured when the Airport opened in 1971.

TPA’s Planning & Development team recently traveled to the Alstom factory to see the cars being manufactured and witness them in motion on the testing track before they are shipped to Tampa Bay.

“It was truly amazing to witness these impressive machines being assembled by hand, right here in the United States. These new trains are the product of high-tech engineering and a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned elbow grease,” Deloatche said. “For a project that began planning over 5 years ago, it was surreal to ride our new train for the first time.”

The guideway rehabilitation and shuttle car replacement, which includes design and running surfaces, plus eight cars with their controls and signaling systems, is budgeted to cost $61 million. The project is being funded with bonds and state grants.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board of Directors approved the shuttle replacement in October 2021.

Replacement cars have already been ordered for Airside E and the forthcoming Airside D, scheduled to open in 2028. Airside F, which has the newest cars of all the airsides, is due to get new shuttles in the future.

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