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Originally Posted by ardecila
I'm down on Toronto because they couldn't make it work as a private investment. And unlike Chicago, Toronto doesn't already have a subway line going to the heart of the terminal complex. How is the Blue Line inadequate again? What's wrong with it that we need to spend hundreds of millions on a competing service?
As Mr D noted before, an express train from Union Station to O'Hare Transfer is not necessarily any faster than a local Blue Line trip, because most downtown travelers aren't staying near Union Station and at the O'Hare end, you'd have to make a slow transfer to the People Mover. If you're a Chicago resident and you live on the North Side, the express train is borderline useless to you.
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How is the Blue Line inadequate? Well, the fact that is stops 18 times and that travelers have to worry about putting their bags in crowded aisles and with residents having to deal with moving over and passed bags of airport travelers.
Is it absolutely "needed"? No, I guess no. Few things are absolutely needed. Was Heathrow express really needed? Is high spreed rail in the Midwest "really needed"? However I think its a good value proposition if express trains are seen as a real asset to business travelers and conventionares who do business in Chicago.
Most travelers who are doing business or staying downtown will still have to likely catch a cab/bus/van regardless if it is from a blue line station in the Loop or from Union Station. And as far as the O'Hare end most travelers will still have a lengthy walk to Terminal 1/2 or have to take to ATS to T5 anyway. Only a minority of the travelers are going straight up to T2. Maybe in the future a spur of a mile can be built like they are also doing in Toronto that can either line up next to the ATS Terminal 1 station.
Maybe if you are live in Logan Square or Albany Park then an O'Hare express does nothing for you but then you still have a relatively easy and painless Blue Line alternative for you. That doesn't negate the fact that a Union express would still make a good deal of sense for a lot of downtown travelers and even south and west side residents.
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The CrossRail plan is a little better - because it's not a premium express service, airport workers could use it, and the long term plan calls for a new tunnel under the airfield with a station at the terminals
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You don't think heavily discounted fares for airport workers could be on the table?
I agree that CrossRail plan is better. However I thought what we are talking about are relatively the same. Both end and begin at Union Station and use current freight tracks for the line.
At least on the Crossrail website they leave it vague where the terminus of such a station at O'Hare would be. They seem to leave open the options of an ATS Parking Lot F terminus or the hypothetical tunnel route going to eventual West Terminal.
I don't know how you could say you are concerned about cost and then bemoan the fact that we don't wait for very expensive new tunneling under O'Hare servicing either a new West Terminal (which I am skeptical will ever come to fruition let alone useful) or some new spur that goes underground to each of the Terminals individually. In such a scenario we are talking the differences between 10/100's of millions and well into the billions of dollars. Maybe if there is a Western Terminal ever built it would be worth doing but I don't think we need to wait till that day long into the future to warrant express service.
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