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Originally Posted by k1052
It would seem you could get into the T5 parking lot with a relatively short tunnel or viaduct. Maybe just do that, buy some FLIRTs, and call it a service. T5 flyers already have to backtrack to the central terminals to catch the Blue Line anyway so that would be a considerable improvement.
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I know T5 is shifting to more LCCs (plus SkyTeam) instead of international flights, but this is still pretty ho-hum. O'Hare 21 will shift an even greater percentage of gates to the central terminal complex and away from T5. You could probably achieve similar ridership by reconfiguring the garage to bring a rail spur to the west side between Mannheim and the APM station.
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While the Blue Line still works pretty well I'd probably deal with the short trip on the ATS from T5 to T2/3 if I was traveling anytime around rush. Crowding on the Blue Line has become a real problem.
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Fundamentally, an airport express train serves a narrow market since it prices out airport workers and budget travelers, leaving only wealthy travelers and business folks. Toronto's airport express train could not be more similar to Chicago's, even the same travel distance, yet it was a miserable failure financially and the private operator ran away. Now it's a huge strain on the balance sheet of the public agency.
Elon Musk's plan had many red flags, but at least it changed the rules so majorly that it could overcome this obstacle. The projected travel time beat out every other option, including driving on an uncongested Kennedy. It would have been the fastest way to access O'Hare at the peak of rush hour or the wee hours of the night. Plus the Block 37 terminal offered excellent CTA connections and the O'Hare terminal was in the middle of the action. The speed and convenience were so clearly stronger than any other option that it could have dominated the travel market from "global city Chicago" to O'Hare, and stood a decent chance of covering its expenses (assuming Musk's ultra-low cost goals could be achieved). I don't think there's a way for North American commuter rail to succeed at this market without a massive re-alignment to European or Asian transit principles.