The Subway (formerly known as the inter-terminal train) is the older of the two separate inter-terminal

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

s operating at

George Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 ...

(IAH) in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Opened in 1969 along with the airport, the train system was replaced in 1981 with the current

WEDway WEDway is a people mover system using linear induction motor (LIM) technology to propel vehicles along a pair of steel rails. This system was developed by WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) and has been installed at places such as Walt ...

system, built by WED Transportation Systems, a division of what is now known as

Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc., commonly referred to as Imagineering, is the research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation, design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attra ...

. The Subway serves approximately 240,000 passengers per month, for a yearly ridership averaging 2.9 million. It is built

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

and serves

landside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

traffic, unlike the newer

Skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclos ...

, which is

elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the Track (rail transport), tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast i ...

and operates

airside An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

. The Subway is notable as the only WEDway people mover built by the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

outside of a Disney property. It uses much of the mechanical technology used by the

Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover The PeopleMover is an urban mass transit PeopleMover system attraction in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida. Designed as an urban mass-transit system of th ...

, an attraction in the

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The W ...

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

. The design permits the trains to make tight corners that are necessary along portions of the basement route. Like their Disney counterparts, the trains are completely unpowered, relying on

linear induction motor A linear induction motor (LIM) is an alternating current (AC), asynchronous linear motor that works by the same general principles as other induction motors but is typically designed to directly produce motion in a straight line. Characteristic ...

s in the track for propulsion.

Platform screen doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail syste ...

at each station have a special mechanism unlocking the trains' doors, and on-train station announcements and audible warning messages are provided by a trackside

audio system Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

through openings in the tops of the vehicle car-bodies. Eight three-car trains are used on the system, of which six operate at any single time at three-minute intervals at speeds of up to . They stop at eight stations in a circuit serving every terminal and the Houston Airport Hotel, for a round-trip time of 18 minutes. The system is currently maintained and operated by JBT Aerotech.

Houston Airport System Houston Airport System (HAS) is a department of the City of Houston, Texas, United States that manages city airports. Its administrative offices are on the property of George Bush Intercontinental Airport.List of airport people mover systems This is a list of automated people mover systems located at airport complexes around the world. These systems are used to transport people from one location within an airport to another. Many different types of people movers are used at airports, ...

References

On track - the Disney trainsComplete On-Ride Video
George Bush Intercontinental Airport Airport people mover systems in the United States WEDway people movers Railway lines opened in 1969 {{Texas-transport-stub