A concessionaire would manage a premium rail service to Chicago’s airports from the Block 37 “superstation” downtown using customized CTA trains with comfortable seating reserved for airline passengers, under a business model drawn up for the transit agency.
The business plan lays out for the first time details about how the system would work, how much it would cost, when it would debut and what the risks are for the CTA and its partners.
The upscale, non-stop service starting in 2008 to O’Hare and Midway marks a measured step toward a private enterprise investing in and eventually running faster airport trains comparable to those in London, Tokyo and other world-class cities, CTA officials say.
The privatization plan comes after myriad false starts and delays in trying to develop the most valuable parcel of downtown property. The move is an acknowledgement by the Daley administration that the city can’t entrust such a major transportation improvement to the CTA alone.
The initial rail service upgrade would not shave any time off the current CTA travel times from the Loop to either O’Hare or Midway, according to the plan prepared by CTA adviser PB Consult Inc.
“The initial service won’t have as much improvement as one would like, but it will test the market for a high-class service,” said Mort Downey, PB Consult’s chairman, who was not personally involved in developing the business plan. “It’s a sensible way for the CTA to see if it can be pulled off.”
One immediate advantage is that airline passengers and their baggage no longer will be bumping into regular commuters on packed trains when they board the rail cars at the airports or at the Block 37 station, bounded by State, Dearborn, Randolph and Washington Streets. Tunnels under the station will link the Blue, Orange and Red Lines.
Choices expected to be offered in the high-class service include advance airline baggage check-in at hotels or the Block 37 and airport stations, and luggage racks aboard trains for passengers who wish to keep an eye on their belongings.
The retrofitted CTA 3200 series rail cars likely will feature wide seats with headrests and outlets for laptop computers.
CTA officials say they are confident that business travelers and tourists who might normally avoid mass transit would opt for the more comfortable service, tentatively priced at $10 each way, compared to the current $2 CTA cash fare. The service will cost significantly less than a taxi ride to the airport, the report noted.
The concept’s success hinges on the CTA turning over the planning and management of the airport trains to an entrepreneurial organization that would put its own brand name and stamp of quality on the service.
“The CTA will never be running airport service from the Block 37 station. Never, not from Day 1,” CTA President Frank Kruesi said, adding that the CTA will be responsible strictly for maintaining tracks and mechanical equipment on the trains.
The trip from the Block 37 station starting in 2008 will be non-stop on the CTA’s existing Blue and Orange Lines. The current travel times of about 45 minutes to O’Hare and 30 minutes to Midway wouldn’t change because the trains will run amid existing CTA rail service.
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Follow the money
The initial phase for the non-stop, non-express trains requires the CTA’s business partner to invest a projected $64 million in refurbished cars and other capital improvements, according to PB Consult.
That’s on top of the $213.3 million that the CTA, the City of Chicago and the Mills Corp. have pledged to build the mixed-use Block 37 complex.
The tab climbs to more than $1.5 billion for an ultimate buildout that features faster travel times using express airport trains traversing bypass tracks on the Blue and Orange Lines to go around slower, all-stop CTA trains.
