Integration of Rail and Air Transport; Approach to Adjusting the Effects of the Airport on The City Airport on Surrounding Urban Areas (Case Study: Mehrabad International Airport)

Airports that once were located out of the city because of the community needs, have gradually created challenges with the physical growth of the city and being surrounded by the urban areas. Inner-city airport on the one hand leads to environmental, social and other issues for residents of the surrounding areas and on the other hand, the airport is in the bottleneck for developmentin line with the increasing growth of cargo and passengers. Organizing inner-city airport issues in its affecting area requires limitation on the functioning of the airport. By reducing the airport performance, air travel demand should be offset through other modes of transport that in addition to responding to passenger demand, improve issues related to the surrounding urban areas. Development of high-speed rail network on an inter-city scale is one of the alternatives for air transport need. The study aimed to investigate the relation between rail and air transportation in Mehrabad inner-city airport to meet air transportation demand and adjusting its negative effects on the surrounding urban areas. Pursuing research objective is based on an approach to study concepts and experiences through the comparative analytical method. The results show that developing high-speed rail transport is an appropriate alternative to air transportation at distances less than ۸۰۰ km. Finally, by studying and detecting Mehrabad issues in its affected urban area, requirements and the way of developing the rail network in relation to Mehrabad airport are described.