O'Hare Flyer Pitches 15-Minute Train to Loop, $2.25B Price Tag

A group of transportation veterans wants to build a privately funded rail line that would whisk passengers from downtown Chicago to O'Hare International Airport in just 15 minutes, using battery-powered trains running every quarter hour between the Old Post Office and a new platform stretching the length of Terminal 2. The proposed service, called O'Hare Flyer, carries a projected price tag of $2.25 billion and would need approvals from the city and multiple freight railroads before a single track is laid.

According to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, O'Hare Flyer's leadership team includes David Lundy, who serves as cofounder and CEO, along with cofounders Mark Walbrun and Kristi Lafleur. Lundy told the paper the group's approach — leaning on existing freight corridors rather than digging new tunnels — is, in his words, the only way to make the project happen. Walbrun previously led the redesign of Chicago's Union Station in the 1990s and has reportedly considered an O'Hare rail link for two decades, while Lafleur is a former director of the Illinois Tollway and former CEO of the Chicago Skyway.

Riding Freight Rails to the Airport

Rather than building an entirely new corridor, O'Hare Flyer plans to route trains along Canal Street's abandoned tracks before joining CSX and Union Pacific lines, then turning north onto Canadian National tracks toward the airport, per the Sun-Times report. The company says it has a tentative agreement with CSX and, according to Lundy, a pathway to agreement with Canadian National and Union Pacific. Plans call for expanding Canadian National's tracks with an added dedicated line and using freshly available freight land at a Union Pacific yard on Chicago's Near West Side.

The route would run largely on a single track, supplemented by six miles of double track allowing trains to pass one another, and the company is aiming for what it describes as 100% dedicated tracks with minimal construction. Near the airport, the plan includes a 90-foot elevated track flyover above taxiways so trains can reach the new Terminal 2 platform without crossing active runway operations, the outlet reported.

Battery Trains and a Middle-Ground Fare

O'Hare Flyer envisions battery-powered trains averaging 80 mph, with four trains running simultaneously and departures every 15 minutes from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The trains could be built by Stadler or Siemens Mobility, according to the Sun-Times report — the same Stadler that Metra tapped for its own zero-emission trainsets. Metra's battery-electric trains, ordered through a $154 million contract, can travel 60 miles on a single charge and reach a top speed of 120 mph, illustrating that the underlying technology is already headed for Chicago-area rails.

Fare-wise, O'Hare Flyer says it will charge more than the CTA's Blue Line but less than ride-hailing services, which the report notes typically cost more than $50 per trip. The Blue Line currently offers 24/7 direct service between downtown and O'Hare for a $5 fare from the airport, with trips normally taking 40 to 50 minutes — though the Sun-Times report notes the ride can stretch past an hour. The CTA boosted train frequency on the O'Hare branch back in an earlier Hoodline report on Kennedy Expressway construction, part of the city's ongoing effort to widen airport transit options.

A History of Stalled Airport Rail Dreams

Chicago has chased a fast downtown-to-O'Hare rail connection for decades, and the ambitions haven't always survived contact with reality. In 2004, the Chicago Transit Authority approved plans for a subterranean superstation beneath Block 37 meant to serve high-speed express trains to O'Hare and Midway, but the city shelved the project indefinitely in 2008 after spending more than $250 million on an underground shell that was never connected to finished mainline tracks. Then, in 2018, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel selected Elon Musk to build an underground tunnel promising 12-minute rides for $25 each — a plan that stalled and was abandoned after Emanuel left office in 2019.

O'Hare Flyer has not disclosed how much money it has raised so far, and the company says it will be mainly commercially funded. Officials still need final approvals from Chicago's aviation and transportation departments before construction of tracks near the Old Post Office and O'Hare can proceed, and community engagement around the downtown station design could begin in the next few months, per the Sun-Times account. Preliminary construction is targeted for 2027, with the company estimating the full project could be completed within five years.

Skepticism and Support From Transit Watchers

Joseph Schwieterman, a transportation researcher cited in the report, said the availability of freight tracks and private financing does create real opportunities for the project, but he also flagged risks including debt financing, uncertain ridership, construction cost overruns, and the venture's reliance on a mostly single-track route. Phil Clement, who has worked with the O'Hare Flyer team for more than a year, said the investment would strengthen Chicago's competitive position in business and tourism if it's realized.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, for his part, said private investors have growing confidence in Chicago, according to the Sun-Times report. That optimism arrives as O'Hare itself keeps setting records: the airport recorded 84.8 million total passengers in 2025 and led the world in flight operations with 857,392 takeoffs and landings, a 10.8% jump over 2024, according to the City of Chicago. The airport is also in the midst of an $8.3 billion terminal overhaul known as ORDNext, which includes replacing Terminal 2 with a new Global Terminal — the very terminal where O'Hare Flyer hopes to land its trains.

Navigating Chicago's Freight Bottleneck

Threading a new passenger service through Chicago's rail network is no small task. The city is North America's largest freight rail hub, where six Class I freight railroads converge to handle roughly a quarter of all national rail shipments across 16,000 intermodal acres, according to the CREATE program, the multi-billion-dollar public-private partnership formed to untangle chokepoints where passenger and freight lines cross. That congestion helps explain why Metra's existing North Central Service line near O'Hare offers only limited weekday schedules shared with freight traffic rather than frequent airport runs, a gap Hoodline previously covered in its report on Metra's O'Hare rail pilot.

Highway investment near the airport is moving in parallel. The Illinois Tollway is building the $534 million I-490/I-390 interchange, slated for completion in 2027, to open new western highway access directly into O'Hare, as Hoodline reported in its earlier coverage of the tollway project. Whether O'Hare Flyer succeeds where the Block 37 superstation and the Musk tunnel proposal failed will depend on securing the freight railroad agreements, city approvals, and private financing that have eluded Chicago's airport rail ambitions for more than two decades.