A proposed express train that would connect downtown Chicago with O’Hare International Airport and pass through River Forest is drawing scrutiny from village officials.
The privately funded O’Hare Flyer would be a “whisper-quiet, battery-electric train,” according to O’Hare Flyer LLC co-founder and CEO David Lundy, that would make its way through River Forest at 80 mph every 15 minutes from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. The total travel time from downtown Chicago to the airport would be 15 minutes.
Prior to River Forest, the train would travel along Interstate 290, within the so-called “Eisenhower Ditch,” then over the expressway moving north on a curve parallel with Van Buren Street between Forest Avenue and Park Avenue.
Once in River Forest, it would continue north between Forest and Park avenues over Chicago Avenue, Iowa Street, Augusta Street and Thatcher Avenue before proceeding to O’Hare through Thatcher Woods.
“Most of the tracks that go from Forest Park to River Forest and then beyond are elevated,” he said. “They only go to ground at Iowa Street, and so we’re going to take that section where you have functionally two blocks, it’s two blocks with four grade crossings, and we’re going to elevate this so you’ll have underpasses.
“We’re not going to interfere in any way with the ingress and egress into the neighborhood. You’re just taking the tracks and removing them from the ground level and putting them 15 feet in the air and you’re doing that with sound insulation around them.”
Lundy said Monday the rail itself would be continuously welded, which will eliminate the “clicking” heard with Metra and freight trains. He also explained how the route would be configured through River Forest.
Still, in a village communication Aug. 26, president Cathy Adduci was unambiguous about the village’s opposition to the project.
“I want to assure you, the village has already reached out to our state legislators and those proposing it, and expressed vehement opposition to it, since it would be on a train line that runs entirely through our village,” Adduci said.
Adduci said Friday that there are many unanswered questions, which is why the village has reached out to Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford and representatives Emanual “Chris” Welch and Camille Lilly to deliver the message that the O’Hare Flyer “has to benefit all of us.”
In a prepared statement to the Wednesday Journal, Harmon said, “While I appreciate the significant positive impact this project could have on Chicagoland, I’d like to hear from my neighbors who will be most directly impacted.”
Lundy said “we are very sensitive to the community issues related to this.
“We know the right way to do this is a collaborative approach,” he said, “where we’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to share with you what our plans are so you have an understanding, but we’re listening so that we can make sure we’re fine-tuning this in a way that is better and easier for the community.’”
That, he said, is why he reached out to Adduci and Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins a year ago to present the proposed plan. He added, “we are actively looking to see if there is a reason to create a stop in the area,” which could impact the area economically.
But Adduci wondered if “it’s premature they announced this.
“They haven’t worked through the state legislators that represent us,” she said. “I can’t imagine they would agree to have 80 mph trains running through our community.
“We worry about a lot of things … not only the possibility of this, (but) the safety and the practicality. I don’t see where it benefits us, Forest Park or Franklin Park.”