I don’t think you understand that the comparisons were about frequency not distance (Berlin Brandenburg Airport to Hauotbahnhof ~16 miles).
Both airports are in city limits. MDW is limited in passenger traffic and runway length.
Thought ORD was considered as being in Rosemont.
ORD was gerrymandered in by a narrow corridor. Airport is run by Chicago Department of Aviation.
Isn’t that something achievable by four FLIRT sets in rotation?
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CMStPnP Correction to your post,: The distance from FRA Bahnhof to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof is actually 7.5 miles.
If an express could be run with short dwells at each endpoint, 4 sets should work.
Please, please no, not the METRA express. We need a decent timetable here to be successful. 
It is. I live in the South Loop near Soldier Field and the Field Museum. I take the Roosevelt stop orange line to Midway. It’s about a 20 minute ride. Trains about every 10 minutes from 4am to 1am. No reason to even consider Uber or taxi.
I can pretty much fly anywhere continental US on Southwest nonstop. Last I checked they serve about 60 cities nonstop from Midway. I only use O’Hare for international travel. Then I use United for the same reason. Can travel pretty much everywhere I want nonstop on them. At one point O’Hare offered the greatest number of cities nonstops in the world according to OAG but they’ve now fallen to I think 3rd or 4th.
The blue line takes about twice as long to O‘hare but I have to first get into downtown. So I take a green or orange to the loop then a blue. All CTA trains are about 10 minutes off peak.
I wouldn’t use Metra even if they went to either airport unless their frequency is reasonably similar. I don’t think any Metra line today is less than every 60 minutes except peak rush. They really should be 30 but with the fiscal cliff they’re now talking off peak every 2-3 hours.
It’s in city limits but it’s like a bubble outside the city with a slim strip of city linking the two. They probably annexed it after world war 2. It was originally Orchard Place. Hence the ORD.
They made military planes there ww2. After the war the place was pretty much unused until the jets came. Midway can handle 737s and 320s easily but not the long range 707s and DC8s at the time. So everyone switched to ORD.
Once the smaller jets came into use Midway regenerated. Today it’s about the 25th busiest airport in the US.
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I have ridden both the CTA and Metra Rail to O’Hare.
CTA is crowded many times and your carry on or standard luggage will take a seat or take up aisle space.
The Metra is much more accommodating for luggage as you can keep it next to you or up in the racks above.
Obviously the CTA drop off in the airport lower level is a huge plus.
Metra has a roundabout with a regular shuttle bus that can take you to the terminal, but can be slow on cold or snowy days. You can walk over to the O’Hare people mover, but they intentionally did not make it easy, especially if you have roller luggage. But after you walk on the grass, and get to the garage entrance, you can go up the escalator or elevator to the mover.
So why no cooperation between Metra and O’Hare? Politics.
O’Hare is a pure Chicago operation run by CDOT. Metra is a regional authority mostly funded by the suburbs and the State of Illinois.
So in short, if you have lots of luggage, use Metra. If you have smaller carry on, use CTA.
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Metra ran highly publicized hourly trains to O’Hare during the democratic convention in 2024. The papers noted ridership was minimal. As in just a few riders average per train. It wasn’t successful.
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The press was indicating that the Metra service during the Dem convention was more for familiarization for Democrats when funding for transit was being reviewed in Congress.
Not necessarily offered for actual practical use for reaching the convention.
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DART’s Orange and Silver lines to DFW do not have luggage racks. If a passenger has more than a small bag, wrestling them onto the train and finding a place to park them without impeding other riders, especially during heavy travel periods, is a challenge.
From DART’s website: Luggage On the Train
• The center section of each train car offers platform-level boarding …
• Make sure you can carry or wheel all your luggage by yourself.
• DART operators are unable to provide assistance.
• Luggage must not block aisles; there are no luggage racks on DART trains.
• No luggage carts on DART trains, please.
The “T”, which runs from Fort Worth to DFW, has overhead luggage racks. Passengers are advised that they must be able to manage their own luggage.
I am not sure when you rode the trains last.
DART Silver Line has overhead luggage racks over the seats. Several folks from my subdivision have used the Silver Line from Plano to the Airport to travel with suitcases. They had high praise for the service. Nobody said anything about struggling with the bags or the crowds.
In my view it depends on travel time of day. Silver Line trains are not crowded last I looked (free ride period is over and the kiddies are gone).
An initial search said the Silver Line does not have luggage racks. A second search indicated otherwise. My bad!
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