It's back with 21 more cars - O'Hare people mover returns Wednesday
O'Hare International Airport's people-mover train whisking travelers between terminals and parking reopens Wednesday after a three-year hiatus due to reconstruction.
The popular elevated train will operate between 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. initially, and that will expand to full-time operations early next year, Chicago Department of Aviation officials said Tuesday.
Known as the Airport Transit System, the ATS was suspended on weekdays as of May 30, 2018, and entirely shut down on Jan. 8, 2019, for a rebuild. Reopening was anticipated in fall 2019, but project delays that spiraled into the millions forced O'Hare workers and fliers onto shuttle buses until now.
As well as stopping at all terminals and Economy Parking Lot F, the track has been extended to a new station at O'Hare's Multi-Modal Facility that houses rental car companies and parking.
New cars will double passenger capacity officials said.
The top speed of trains is 50 mph and it takes about 10 minutes to travel from Terminal 1 to the Multi-Modal Facility, the CDA reported. The track is 3 miles long.
The new system will have 36 cars compared to the original 15.
"This project was particularly complex because the O'Hare ATS is a unique system, only one other deployment of this system is in service in the world and that is in Taipei, Taiwan," CDA officials stated.
The original cost was budgeted at $310 million but the city has paid its contractor, Parsons Construction Group about $323.3 million so far.
Remote Parking Lot E, however, remains closed, officials said.