Eric Zorn put good questions to O’Hare Flyer CEO Dave Lundy in the September 10 Picayune Sentinel.1 Several of the answers contradict the company’s own website, its own September 4 presentation to rail advocates, or the public record. Here they are, with the sources.
They say: “The cost would have been more like $10 billion if we hadn’t been able to secure the rights of way.”
The record: The company has not secured the rights of way. It has a nonbinding letter of intent with CSX. Union Pacific has said no agreement has been reached; Canadian National has said only that discussions are ongoing.2 The company’s own FAQ, as of this week, says it is “working to finalize definitive agreements with all three railroads.”3 The $10 billion figure has no published basis.
They say: Asked how travelers will reach a terminal “about a mile from the heart of downtown”: “We will offer free circulator buses to shuttle passengers from the hotels to the terminal as well as directly to McCormick Place.”
The record: A fifteen-minute train that ends a mile from downtown, followed by a bus in Loop traffic, is not a fifteen-minute trip. The terminal is at Canal and Van Buren, west of the river; the company’s own answer to the last-mile problem is the vehicle most exposed to the congestion the train is supposed to avoid. The bus fleet is also an operating cost that appears in no company document, and “free” means its cost is inside the fare.4 Compare the two public trains. The Blue Line runs from the O’Hare terminals into the Loop itself — Clark/Lake, Washington, Monroe, Jackson — with direct transfers to every other L line and no bus required.14 Metra’s North Central Service ends at Union Station, the region’s rail hub, a block from the Flyer’s own terminal but connected to everything.11 The relevant measure is door to door, not platform to platform — and on that measure, improving the trains that already reach the Loop gets travelers to their final destinations faster than a private express that needs a bus to finish the job.
They say: The fare will be “more expensive than the Blue Line … and less expensive than taxis or ride shares,” and “competitive with London’s Heathrow Express (currently about $35).”
The record: Three fare answers in three weeks. On September 4 the company told the High Speed Rail Alliance the fare would be “significantly more than the CTA.”4 Its website now says only that a ride will be “significantly less than the cost of a rideshare or taxi” — the “more than the CTA” half has been dropped.3 As for the comparison: Heathrow Express, at that fare, carried 6.7 million passengers in 2018–19 and under 4.3 million in 2024–25 after a cheaper public line opened, and its contract ends in 2028.5 Naming Heathrow Express as the fare model is naming the case study in what happens to a premium airport train when the public option improves.
They say: “Approximately $2.25 billion — all private money.”
The record: The money may be private; the assets are not. The downtown terminal is on the public lower level of Canal Street; the airport loop and taxiway flyover are on City-owned airport land; the Madison Street grade separation would be done “working closely with IDOT”; and grade-crossing costs in Illinois are apportioned by the Commerce Commission among the railroad, the State, and local governments.4 The company will not say how much it has raised, who its investors are, or what return they expect: asked on September 4 whether the investors are public, the CEO said, “It is not.”4
They say: “It’s an 18-mile track rehabilitation project with two and a half miles of new track to make the connection to the airport.”
The record: In the same interview, asked whether the company would be “laying all new track,” Mr. Lundy answered, “Correct.” On September 4 his chief engineer described the work: the Flyer’s own separate track within the CN right-of-way; a flyover over the Metra/CPKC line at B-12; a flyover over the B&OCT; CSX’s four-track main in the Eisenhower trench rebuilt as three tracks; a grade separation at Madison Street; a 27-foot embankment-and-fence structure through River Forest; six miles of double track; and a 90-foot structure over the O’Hare taxiways.4 That is not a rehabilitation project.
They say: “Unless you’re standing outside right next to the train, you’re unlikely to even hear it go by.”
The record: Two sentences earlier, Mr. Lundy describes spending “more than $100 million” on berms, sound walls with baffles, and fences in River Forest. Companies do not spend $100 million to mitigate a sound nobody can hear. On September 4 he said that he lives across from a Metra line and does hear the trains.4 Above roughly 50 mph a train’s noise comes from its wheels and the air it moves, not its motor; the company proposes an 80 mph average and 110 mph through the Eisenhower trench.4 The $100 million, incidentally, covers River Forest only; the four crossings at 1st Avenue, 5th Avenue, George Street, and Belmont Avenue, which the company concedes may still be at grade when service begins, are not mentioned.4
They say: “If we are successful in placing a stop in Forest Park … residents will be able to get to the O’Hare Terminals in six minutes and downtown in nine every fifteen minutes.”
The record: Asked directly whether there will be a stop, Mr. Lundy said: “We are actively considering … If we can find a way to make it work.” On September 4: “no commitments.”4 That conditional promise is the basis of Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins’s public support for the project.13 It is worth being precise about what has been promised: a stop if the company can make one work, on an express train whose entire premise is fifteen minutes without stopping. Every other community on the line gets the trains and no such offer. The Tribune nonetheless told its readers Forest Park “is expected to receive a station.”7
They say: “Our Class III short line railroad, Great Western Railroad, will take over switching duties to deliver to these customers.”
The record: Five customers, two or three cars a week each, is not a business. It is a legal status. A railroad that carries freight for hire is a “rail carrier” under federal law, and federal law then preempts most state and local regulation of its operations.8 The company that promises to “engage with the community” has structured itself so the community cannot say no. Note also what has changed since September 4, when the company said the freight customers were on “the line that we have leased”: it now says none of the freight will use River Forest tracks. It has not said where the CN customer is, or whether overnight freight will run through Thatcher Woods to reach it.
They say: “The consultant found that ridership would exceed our most optimistic projections. This is the first of two ridership studies … The second will be a seven-figure study giving a far more granular breakdown.”
The record: Neither study has been released, and the company is asking the City Council to act before the second one exists. The only public data are Metra’s 2024 pilot — hourly O’Hare–downtown trains that carried about 2,400 riders in three weeks9 — and CMAP’s 2019 analysis of the last O’Hare express, which forecast low ridership skewed to higher-income travelers and led the region to leave the project out of its long-range plan.10 If the numbers are as good as the company says, release them.
They say: Passengers will be “able to check your luggage all the way through to your final destination before you board the train.”
The record: Off-airport bag check requires agreements with each airline and TSA-approved screening at the downtown terminal. No airline agreement has been announced, and this amenity appears in no company document. Heathrow Express, the company’s stated model, ended downtown check-in two decades ago.
They say: Blue Line express service “would require building additional tracks and siding for which there is no room.”
The record: However, another public alternative is Metra, and the interview never mentions it. Metra’s North Central Service already reaches O’Hare Transfer in about 34 minutes; a $1.5 million federal study of frequent service is funded; the constraint is capacity on the same Canadian National corridor north of Franklin Park the Flyer wants to use.11 A private premium train on that corridor is not an addition to public transit. It is a competitor for the track, pitting private funding directly in opposition of improving public transit.
They say: “The response we’ve gotten since our launch has been overwhelmingly positive.”
The record: River Forest declared vehement opposition within a day.6 Transit-network designer Jarrett Walker warned that single-track delays “will snowball and be hard to recover from.”12 The company’s own September 4 webinar drew, by the host’s count, more than 120 questions, most from corridor residents.4 Positive response has come from editorial boards and from a United Airlines CEO. It has not come from anyone who lives on the line.
Mr. Zorn asked the right question at the end: why do we need this? Chicago does need a fast, reliable connection to O’Hare. It has two public ones that need investment. The answer to the question is not a company that will not name its investors, its fare, its ridership, or its railroad agreements — and that describes a $2.25 billion construction program as a rehabilitation. The answer is putting money and resources into improvements to the public transit that already serves O’Hare, which would benefit public transit users throughout Cook County, enriching the public–not just profit for private investors.
- Eric Zorn, “I, too, have questions about the O’Hare Flyer,” The Picayune Sentinel, Sept. 10, 2026. All quotations attributed to Mr. Lundy are from this interview unless noted. ↩
- Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 25, 2026 (CSX letter of intent; Union Pacific and Canadian National statements); Trains, Sept. 2, 2026. ↩
- ohareflyer.com, Frequently Asked Questions, as of Sept. 10, 2026 (“What will a ride cost?”; “What is the status of your relationship with the railroads?”). ↩
- High Speed Rail Alliance webinar with Dave Lundy and Mark Walbrun, Sept. 4, 2026 (transcript on file with ordflyer.com; see our point-by-point rebuttal). The September 4 presentation described the downtown terminal on the lower level of Canal Street, a roughly 100-foot extension of the Union Station pedway, and hotel and McCormick Place circulators. ↩
- Rail Magazine / Office of Rail and Road, Heathrow Express passenger figures 2018–19 to 2024–25; Transport for London submission, Feb. 2026. ↩
- Forest Park Review, Sept. 1, 2026. ↩
- Chicago Tribune editorial, Aug. 25, 2026; Tribune editorial, Sept. 9, 2026, as quoted by Zorn. ↩
- 49 U.S.C. § 10501(b) (exclusive federal jurisdiction over rail carriers; preemption of state and local remedies); Union Pacific R.R. v. Chicago Transit Authority, 647 F.3d 675 (7th Cir. 2011). ↩
- NBC Chicago, Oct. 4, 2024 (Metra O’Hare pilot ridership during the Democratic National Convention). ↩
- CMAP analysis of the proposed O’Hare express, 2019; Streetsblog Chicago, Feb. 1, 2019; ON TO 2050. ↩
- RTA, Aug. 21, 2024; Journal & Topics, May 12, 2026; Metra, North Central Service (Union Station terminus). ↩
- Streetsblog Chicago, Aug. 25–26, 2026. ↩
- Forest Park Review, Sept. 4, 2026 (Mayor Hoskins on the project and a Forest Park stop). ↩
- CTA, Blue Line (O’Hare to Forest Park via the Loop; stations at Clark/Lake, Washington, Monroe, and Jackson with transfers to the Red, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple lines). ↩