Looks like Dallas and Fort Worth will once again show the way for Chicago on major airport rail transit. 
Chicago has more than enough money to fix these issues, it just chooses not to do so.
You really don’t understand the funding problems of the overseeing agency.
Here is what the GOP chairman of the RTA, Kurt Dillard, said recently in a letter to the Trib:
"Our region’s public transportation faces a $771 million transit “fiscal cliff” when federal COVID-19 monies run out. The state of Illinois contributes the least to mass transit operations of any state — 17% here compared to 28% in New York, 44% for Boston and 50% in Philadelphia.
Regarding unfunded mandates, the state’s reimbursement for Americans with Disabilities Act paratransit is just 4% — just $10 million of the $249 million yearly mandate. Also, the state mandates free and reduced fares of $150 million annually but provides a paltry reimbursement of $20 million."
Technically it’s a three-seat ride, but nothing other than a shuttle bus would give you a one-seat ride ‘to your desired terminal entrance’ from far off the airport, so any mass-transit approach would still involve a ‘transfer station’ to the airport people-mover.
If you could arrange a cross-platform transfer to a people-mover stop, you’d have a reasonable answer. A very similar situation came in determining that a comparatively short track in East Arlington would allow push-pull consists from various places in northern New Jersey to access Giants Stadium (or whatever it’s called now) nearly directly. I doubt that situation could be duplicated off the METRA line, but if the frequent service were to be a FLIRT or similar car, the necessary track might be short and tolerant of considerable grade change. I do think short cross-platform to the people-mover, especially if some sort of platform check-in and baggage check were provided there, would be attractive considering the alternatives.
But the point about Chicago or Cook County devoting the funds to do that sort of project right are very slight. That low percentage of subsidy already, I think, reflects a concern that much of the METRA operation benefits wealthier suburbanites, and public money is better allocated to the perceived (or perceived as voting) needier.
I thought you were suggesting the existing O’Hare people mover could be directly connected to the Metra station better.
As of February 15, 2024, O’Hare Transfer station is served by 12 trains (six in each direction) on weekdays.
Owing to the weekday only operation and limited frequency typically offered by the North Central Service, the station is not a significant means of access for travelers to O’Hare.
Clearly the Metra service would need to be greatly expanded, with short Flirt-type trains.
As long as residents in downstate Illinois think the way Harold does, increased revenue -sharing from the state is unlikely.
The problem is that neither the METRA route nor the people-mover can be easily moved to have a contiguous common platform or lobby.
BWI has a highly useful shuttle arrangement with the Amtrak/MARC station in Landover, which has all kinds of connection including to the Metro. That is considerably further than “something” that could move a train’s worth of passengers ‘in the dry’ from the METRA stop to the people-mover; I’m tempted to say a moving-sidewalk arrangement might be suitable.
If you extend service ‘just to the airport’ with a two-car FLIRT, building a switch and short track over to the people-mover may be preferable as it allows ‘dwell’ of a given shuttle vehicle between arrival and departure, free of the METRA line. We may recall here that the design of the FLIRT allows the power pod to have electric power or battery-electric ‘plug-in hybrid’ connections, so the dwell might easily include recharge or ‘shore powering’. A little exaggerated CEM might relieve perceived issues with FLIRT traffic ‘cohabiting’ with regular METRA consists, etc.
I know I’d ride it if I were there.
I don’t know anything about that but I do know a train from downtown Fort Worth and in less than a year a train from Dallas Northern Suburbs will drive right into DFW Terminal B. Now, DART already serves Dallas Love Field and it is a bus shuttle but the Airport is not almost over the horizon (heh), the airport is right next door. Might be time to buy some surplus Army Combat Dozers for Chicago and start remaking the urban landscape up there.
Seem to remember the whole political fracas of closing lakefront Miegs field as well, now that we have evolution of electrical VTOL aircraft, that might also have been a shortsighted thing to do. It just looks like a common thread of inability to look forwards or plan.
Folks from Oklahoma City can depart OKC on the Amtrak Heartland Flyer and do a cross platform transfer to the DFW Airport train at the Fort Worth Amtrak station. Cheaper to fly out of DFW for them. They are happy about it. I think I have a complimentary video on that too of you want to watch it.
I’m not anti-Chicago but they have the money, just not the motivation it seems.
If you could get a large developer involved with deep pockets. It would be done already.
The biggest reason the Metra trains to the airport failed to attract riders was that door to door it was slower than the CTA. I can’t see that changing, no matter how fast the Metra can run. It requires a change to the airport shuttle train and probably for most riders also requires a taxi or CTA to Chicago Union Station.
Also frequency of service plays into times as well. Waiting 30 minutes on average for the next Metra train is unappealing.
You are thinking of the Florida property development linked to HrSR. This is a completely different kettle of fish.
Everywhere else they’d build connectors at Bryn Mawr on/off to the former CNW triple track and run express to Ogilvie.
Pour one out for Block 37. I believe the showstopper for airport express service were the costs to go to 2 minute headways (from 3). A whole new signaling system was required for a very limited use case.
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It is really ironic because O’Hare is surrounded by class 1 rail lines. Seems to me one of them could burrow under the runways to the Terminal Building. In regards to CTA Blue line…are there any pictures of a interior Blue Line train without a homeless person in the frame?
That is not a long wait for a direct airport train. I think the issue here is not so much the wait but the transit time and convienence of location in regards to the stations. Both are issues that Chicago could resolve but choses not to for whatever reason. Chicago and suburbs take in a massive amount of tax revenue…dwarfs the budgets and GDP of most countries in the world.
My brother rides the Blue every day and he says it’s gotten much better. Very little homeless now.
Are the insides of the cars pretty decent with all matching seats or is it still a patchwork. I know DART had to replace their cloth seats with naguahyde I think because some thought the seat was a public toilet. DART is pretty clean inside the car. Every once in a while there is a little trash but they keep the insides fairly clean.
It is to me. When I arrived in London Heathrow recently I was poised to take the new Elizabeth commuter line in. Sign said next train 30+ something minutes. Asked why so long and gate agent said delays. I asked should I take the Piccadilly tube instead and he said good idea. Stations were adjacent and its sign said next train something like 5 or 7 minutes.
When I said 30 minute average wait for Metra that meant trains were every hour during the convention. Someone just missing the train is not going to wait an hour. Forgetaboudit. Former NYer here. They’ll take a taxi. Defeats the purpose of a train.
BART when they started going to SFO airport did a survey and they found that if people had to wait more than 10 minutes they’ll lose them to taxis.
The new cars are pretty nice. Certainly comfortable enough for 45 minutes. They ride rough though. Although maybe I got on a bad car.
For example at the two primary international air terminals in Germany:
Frankfurt Airport to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Local Trains every 15 minutes. ICE (HSR) every 10-20 minutes depending on time of day.
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport to Berlin Hauotbahnhof trains run about every 15 minutes.
Sounds about right! I think Bart is every 15 minutes too. I’ll accept 30 at the max.
Thats more bulldozing than I think most folks in Chicago will accept. You would have to move O’Hare (18 miles from loop) into downtown Chicago quite a bit to come up with service like that. Frankfurt Main Airport is about 6 miles from the train station. Aware that Chicago taxes a lot but that might be a little much on the spending side of the equation.
So I am leaning towards that not really being a meaningful comparison?
I think your going to find that distance of the trip factors into time that people are willing to wait. Also there is a factor as well in how much the tax base of the City or regional area will support. You can’t drive from the Loop to O’Hare in 6-7 min.
Isn’t Midway inside the Chicago city limits? In any event it is closer to the Loop than is O’Hare.