The proposed three-mile light rail route between East Riverside Drive and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is now on a faster track. The Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) confirmed in a November 10 memo that it is "expediting planning activities to ensure the airport extension can be integrated with other major infrastructure investments underway across the region."

Until recently, Austin’s planned light rail system didn’t include an AUS extension in the first phase. Rather, a system map (that's still live on ATP's website) listed the airport line as a “preferred priority extension” to come later. Now, the planned airport extension has been added to the system’s first phase.

“It’s time to start the process to get rail to the airport … An airport rail connection has been part of Austin’s long-term transportation vision for years,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson wrote in his Watson Wire newsletter on LinkedIn.

ATP, which is developing the roughly $8 billion light rail system, says the mostly elevated AUS line would run between the planned Yellow Jacket Station on East Riverside and a planned station at the airport. ATP is working with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration to fast-track approvals for the airport extension.

The stepped-up timeline for the airport extension comes after local residents weighed in.

During an environmental review of the system, the No. 1 comment ATP representatives received from Austin residents “was to extend light rail to the airport — to increase mobility capacity and mobility choices, and to improve reliability in getting to the airport for both passengers and the airport workforce,” the partnership said in the memo.

Because design work for the airport’s $5 billion expansion is underway, it’s critical that planning for the AUS rail line and station start now, ATP said. The partnership expects the planning process to take nine to 12 months.

In July, ATP announced it signed a deal with Swiss manufacturer Stadler to supply 21 train cars for Austin’s light rail system. Each of the system’s seven electric-powered trains will feature five cars. Sixteen stations will be built for the system.

Each five-car train will be able to hold about 240 passengers and travel up to 65 mph.

As currently envisioned, one rail line would go from a 38th Street station in North Central Austin to a South Austin station at South Congress Avenue and East Oltorf Street. The other line would travel from a station just south of Lady Bird Lake to the airport station. The 38th Street line would have 10 stops, and the airport line would have six.

A second phase would extend the 38th Street line to North Central Austin’s Crestview neighborhood.

Construction on the system is scheduled to start in 2027. That would be seven years after Austin voters approved a ballot measure to enable funding for the system.