The International Airport of Thessaloniki is the third busiest airport in Greece, serving over 4 million passengers annually. A significant upgrade in terms of capacity is foreseen according to its master plan for year 2030. Expected travellers may reach double figures by then. This increase calls for an improved and more reliable city–airport connection for the future. Three alternatives to the existing bus connection are examined; a further extension of the Metro at–grade which is under construction, a segregated Tramway/LRT, and an elevated Monorail. The new fixed track corridor under consideration will consist of 5 stations and will have a total length of 5.1 kms. The modal operating capacity selected, covers 10 min policy headway, a 25% rail transit share of the total trips and a directed loading of 1,300 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd).
A comprehensive multi modal transport model, developed by Thessaloniki Urban Transport Authority, was used as a supplementary tool, in order to perform extended cost/benefit comparative analysis. The investigation of cost (e.g. operating cost, user cost, rolling stock and infrastructure) and benefit (e.g. time variability risk, novelty image, employment creation) elements, indicate that Monorail is likely to be the least costly and most beneficial rail alternative in a total cost (benefit) perspective. The final decision however depends on both availability of funds and future expansion potential of each alternative.

rail technologies, fixed route systems, cost benefit analysis