There was a groundbreaking at Newark Liberty International Airport Tuesday for the start of construction on the all-new AirTrain.

During the ceremony, officials with the Port Authority said that after 29 years, the system that takes air travelers from one terminal to the next is outdated and aging and in need of a replacement.

The current AirTrain will remain in use until the new system is up and running for air passengers in the year 2030.

The new AirTrain will be 2.5 miles long.

The new fleet will include seven trains, each with five cars. Those train cars will be larger, open and interconnected to allow passengers a chance to move from a crowded car to another car.

The new AirTrain will connect more easily with the new Terminal A and an all-new Terminal B, which is in the planning phase.

“We anticipate having totally seamless connection for A. Actually, when we built terminal A, we built it for a purpose to accommodate a new AirTrain. We thought about that and that’s going to be a simple easy connection,” said Sarah McKeon, director of Aviation for the Port Authority. “Time and again, I’ve heard how crowded the current AirTrain

is and how challenging it is to use. In 1996 when it opened, this airport served fewer than 30 million annual customers. Last year, we served 49 million customers.”

The AirTrain is also needed for customer growth.

Last year, Newark airport served 49 million customers. By 2040, that’s expected to rise 50%.

The cost for the project is $3.5 billion.

The initial cost was $2 billion but there were cost overruns due to the pandemic, which delayed the project.

The cost of the construction materials also caused the increase.