Rahm Still Chasing His White Whale, An Express Train To O'Hare
By Mae Rice in News on Feb 9, 2017 9:30PM
It's a big day for Chicago transit. Not only are we getting a new L station at United Center—Mayor Rahm Emanuel is once again vigorously mentioning building an express train from downtown to O'Hare.
Emanuel brought up his continuing commitment to what he terms the "express rail" project—inspired by slick airport transport in London, Toronto and Tokyo—at a Thursday speech on infrastructure. Emanuel said the engineers at WSP Parsons are investigating possible routes for the train, the Sun-Times reports.
Though there's no precise timeline, price tag or financing plan for the project, the Emanuel administration appears to eager to start it within the next three years, the Tribune reports.
Geared towards business travelers, the train Emanuel envisions would cost a premium fare of $20+. He's not the first to envision such a thing. His predecessor, former mayor Richard M. Daley, built a whole underground transit station for this dreamtrain. That station, the Block 37 superstation, cost $400M and remains unused.