Committee on Transportation and the Public Way
City Council Meeting October 8, 2014
RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING CROSSRAIL CHICAGO AND PREMIUM EXPRESS TRAIN SERVICE BETWEEN O'HARE AIRPORT AND McCORMICK PLACE
WHEREAS, Chicago is the financial, business and culture capital of the Midwest, bringing in millions of tourists and visitors every year; and
WHEREAS, improved and expanded passenger train service is essential to maintain Chicago's economic vitality and allow for increased growth and prosperity; and
WHEREAS, a new initiative for first-class passenger rail service called CrossRail Chicago has emerged which would, for the first time, connect Metra route lines together, knitting together the Chicagoland region; and
WHEREAS, Chicago residents of high unemployment areas do not have easy transportation access to areas with job surplus, such as between the south side and the area around O'Hare Airport; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Department of Transportation has been diligently working for months on creating the city's only through-station for Metra and Amtrak trains at Union Station, developing plans to use two existing tracks along the river that travel through the station, allowing for connected northbound and southbound service; and
WHEREAS, if connecting ramps were built and tracks rights were secured from the freight railroad owners, an elevated freight line along 16th Street from the Lakefront to Halsted (also known as the St. Charles Airline) could connect South Side Metra Electric and Rock Island Metra trains with Union Station and northbound Metra routes allowing for crosstown Metra and Amtrak service for the first time; and
WHEREAS, Metra currently serves O'Hare Airport along the North Central Line from Union Station to the O'Hare Transfer Station on the far eastern part of the airport; these tracks are owned by Metra from Union Station to Franklin Park and then owned by the Canadian National Railroad for the final three miles to the airport; and...
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