http://articles.chicagotribune.com/..._o-hare-service-airport-trains-passenger-rail In the future, one of the carriers serving travelers at O'Hare International Airport may be Amtrak. Gov. Pat Quinn has asked Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman to conduct a study examining what it would take, logistically and financially, to commence fast, nonstop passenger rail service between Chicago Union Station and O'Hare, your Getting Around reporter has learned.
As great as this sounds, I fear it will turn into yet another pipe dream that will never see the light of day. The issues are enormous - Amtrak goes nowhere near ORD - where is the right of way for the tracks going to come from? Apparently Metra already has only limited use of the tracks that lead to their station, due to restrictions placed on them by the owners of the tracks - Canadian Pacific. Then you have the issue of placing a station somewhere close to the terminals. Union station, while attractive for people connecting off Amtrak and I guess Metra, is not exactly in the area where most flyers want to go - the plan to put an express station in Block 37 - as flawed as it was - certainly would have been a better terminus for business flyers.
I think the success of this really depends on if United keeps the Amtrak partnership. If they do, I could easily see United pushing for the connection so they could codeshare on ORD-MKE trains and remove/reduce the UX flights on this short hop.
I'm confused too! As far as I can tell the only tracks Amtrak currently uses are for the Hiawatha and Empire Builder services, both of which go from Union Station and then up through Glenview and on to Milwakuee, which puts it nowhere near O'Hare. The only pax tracks I know of that go anywhere close to ORD are the CP tracks that Metra uses out of Ogivlie, where Amtrak has no support facilities. So, how is Amtrak planning to get service to ORD - where are the tracks? Where would they put a station? Equally importantly, Amtrak is used to running trains once an hour at peak times at best. A train to ORD from the Loop needs to be on something more like a 15-20 minute schedule. The Blue line gets you there in 45 minutes, 24 hours a day, at peak times trains come every 7 minutes, and from much more convenient stations, for under $3.00!!
