Ecology of infrastructures

Schiphol airport is in a constant struggle to service as many flights as possible within the boundaries of laws regulating noise and air pollution. Schiphol railway station gives some relief, because for certain distances Schiphol can offer trains instead of plains, decreasing the number of flights while maintaining its service level. ProRail, the provider of capacity on Dutch railways, has the intention to almost double the capacity of existing infrastructure. More trains can diminish the amount of cars driving around in the larger Schiphol area, and thus decrease the all over levels of noise and air pollution that limit the possibility to fly. Airport and rail keep each other vital, and this is not only economically, but also environmentally sound. Besides that it connects people who never worked together before, so socially it is of value. This makes the combination of these two infrastructures meet the three criteria of sustainability: People, Planet, Profit. In this paper the vital combination of two or more infrastructures will be presented as an ecology meeting higher standards of sustainability then working within one infrastructure only.