LAX APM Engages ABB ESS
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The 2.5-mile, six-station APM is slated to open in 2023. (Rendering courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports)
The Los Angeles International Airport's 2.25-mile Automated People Mover (APM) will use a traction energy storage system for backup power when it opens in 2023.
The contract was awarded to ABB, which will design and supply three Enviline™ ESS – Energy Storage System units with a combined power of 7MW and 2.1MWh of energy. The technology will allow trains to be restarted in a staggered manner and run for 40 minutes during an outage.
In 2018, LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) was chosen for the $4.9 billion, 30-year contract to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the APM. With six stations, including three inside the Central Terminal Area, the APM is expected to have the capacity to carry up to 87 million riders per year.
Rosendin Electric, the electrical contractor working for LINXS, selected ABB.
LINXS comprises Fluor, Balfour Beatty, ACS Infrastructure Development, Dragados USA, HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions, Flatiron, HDR and HNTB. Bombardier Transportation will provide the APM Operating System, including all vehicles.
Pre-construction activities—such as utility relocations, geotechnical investigations and surveying—began in 2018, and construction activities are under way at the future Maintenance and Storage Facility and within the CTA.
