Construction is officially underway on Newark Liberty International Airport’s long-awaited new AirTrain—a sleek, $3.5 billion replacement for the clunky 1996 original that’s ferried millions of travelers (sometimes begrudgingly) across terminals for nearly three decades.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey broke ground this week on the 2.5-mile automated people mover, which will serve as the backbone of Newark’s ongoing airport transformation. When it debuts in 2030, the new AirTrain will move up to 50,000 passengers per day (up from about 33,000 currently), connecting all three terminals, parking lots, rental car facilities and NJ Transit and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail lines .

“Breaking ground on a new AirTrain system marks another milestone in the complete trans

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