About 100 community members gathered to seek answers about the proposed O’Hare Flyer, a train which would take travelers from downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport in minutes with plans for a potential stop in Forest Park.
The Flyer’s leadership team, community members and elected officials gathered Thursday at Proviso Math and Science Academy in Forest Park to discuss the plans and to hear from local residents.
The aspirational plan, called the O’Hare Flyer, would rely on the use of freight railroad tracks to shuttle travelers between downtown and the airport. Leaders of the initiative would not disclose ticket prices, but said the trip would cost “significantly” less than a taxi or rideshare but more than a trip on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line, officials said.
Should a stop be implemented in the village, it would take travelers from Forest Park to O’Hare in six to seven minutes and to downtown Chicago in nine minutes by grade separating, said Kristi Lafleur, a former executive director of the Illinois Tollway and a member of the group’s leadership. The CEO of the initiative is Dave Lundy, who is also a lobbyist and the CEO of the strategic communications firm Aileron Communications. Mark Walbrun is also member of the Flyer team who is a rail industry veteran.
“We are evaluating the potential for a station location here to serve not only downtown, but the communities in the western suburbs and the southwest suburbs that would have ready access to a station at Forest Park,” Lafleur said.
River Forest’s Village Board has publicly opposed plans for the Flyer to travel through the village and has called for alternative routes to be explored.
Cathy Adduci, River Forest’s mayor, said she doesn’t see the benefit of having the Flyer in the western suburbs and that the high speed trains would cause safety concerns.
“It’s unsafe,” she said. “Traffic is going to be insane. I mean you got gates coming down all the time,” Adduci said. “Unless they make a commitment to grade separations on those very major busy streets, I don’t see how this can work for us in the western suburbs.”
The Flyer team’s plan would eliminate all of the grade crossings in River Forest, Lafleur said.
Rory Hoskins, the mayor of Forest Park, is in favor of the initiative and said the potential station could be at Howard Mohr Community Center.
While proponents of the plan called the train “whisper-quiet,” the plan still raised concerns from local residents as well as a slew of other questions they feel weren’t answered during the meeting.
Cary McLean, a Forest Park resident, handed out flyers detailing her opposition to the Flyer initiative, arguing it would be disruptive and decrying an overall lack of information about the project.
“This is not good, this is not the right route for an 80 mile-an-hour to 110 mile-an-hour train at 4 o’clock in the morning,” McLean said. “The decibel rating on this for their class train is 90 decibels, that would be like a gas powered lawnmower at 4 in the morning.”
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John Harriman, a 14-year Forest Park resident, said he had mixed emotions about the O’Hare Flyer after the community meeting.
He said he feels the the Flyer team overlooked residents in surrounding areas,
“I don’t feel there’s a significant answer for questions of traffic, how it will change traffic patterns,” Harriman said. “People living nearby — a block near the existing tracks — what kind of effect it’ll have on their property values.”
Harriman also expressed concern about how track heights could impact home values, but he still understood the intent of the train.
“The idea of it makes sense to me to speed up traffic between Chicago and O’Hare and perhaps the western suburbs as well. I’m fine with that. But I feel we weren’t given enough information,” Harriman said.
The train could be ready to launch within five years, would cost around $2.25 billion and would be privately funded, proponents said.
They also said should the initiative come to life, it’d create job opportunities for labor unions.
Brandon Dupre, the communications director for the Chicago Laborers District Council, said the union was in favor of the initiative.
“It represents an opportunity to create good-paying union construction jobs and career opportunities for residents of the village and Cook County,” Dupre said. “It also makes use of existing rail corridors and infrastructure that will benefit the greater Chicagoland area. Projects like these are incredible not only for seasoned union members, but also for someone looking to join and start a career in the trades.”
Following the information presented by the Flyer team, community members could engage with other members of the team in conversation in a separate room for about half an hour before returning to give public comment in a session that became slightly heated.
“This isn’t just something that’s going to be for the next 10, 15 years, “ said Mary-Beth Heine, a Forest Park resident for nearly nine years. “You are permanently altering the face of Forest Park, River Forest, Melrose Park and beyond and through Chicago. We deserve better information.”
Forest Park Mayor Hoskins said the Thursday meeting was the first of several meetings to come and the next is scheduled for Oct. 21 at the Village Hall at 5 p.m.
baiduhai staff reporter Talia Soglin contributed to this article.