As a temporary measure during the Democratic National Convention, Metra is offering hourly shuttle service to its O’Hare transfer station on the North Central Service Line, allowing convention attendees and all Chicagoans to quickly get from Union Station to the airport. (If you have used the service, please take this survey to let us know what you think.)

But what would it take to provide more frequent (hourly or more frequent) service to O’Hare on a permanent basis? That’s a good question, and one that Metra is trying to answer.

We know that this would require an agreement with two freight railroads – Canadian National, which owns some of the tracks needed for the service, and CPKC, which handles trains on another part of the line. Those railroads agreed to the temporary service.

We also know that to provide more service on a sustained basis, we would need to significantly upgrade existing infrastructure, such as adding tracks, sidings, crossings and overpasses. We may also need specialized rolling stock for O’Hare service that is better suited to high-speed travel to and from the airport than our existing equipment. Metra is currently conducting a comprehensive study (Systemwide Network Plan) to examine how Metra can improve service across the system, what upgrades would be required and what costs would be involved.

Meanwhile, on a smaller scale, with the support of U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley, Metra received a $750,000 federal grant to study and outline measures to make the O’Hare Transfer Station more convenient and useful and a better alternative for getting to and from the airport. Chicago also received federal funding to improve pedestrian connectivity from the Metra station to the Airport Transit System (People Mover).