Plans for an underground "super station" providing express rail service between the Loop and the city's airports came braking to a halt yesterday, as transit officials acknowledged the project was over budget and mired in problems.

With approximately $250,000 already invested, Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman said the project will not be scrapped, but scaled back in hopes that a private developer can be induced to complete construction and take over the actual rail service.

"We are not abandoning this project," Huberman explained after the CTA board voted to follow his recommendations  on Wednesday. "We are just saying at this point we're going to complete our current phase ... a shell and tunnel. We are then going to be working to leverage and bring in a private sector partner to help us complete the project."

The project had its roots in 2003, when Mayor Richard M. Daley began pushing for what he said would be "one of the most modern facilities in the country" - a multi-level transportation hub underneath Block 37, between State, Dearborn, Washington and Randolph Streets.

The "super-station" was envisioned as a launching pad for express rail service from the Loop directly to O'Hare and Midway airports, featuring a 26,600 square-foot airport check-in facility, electronic screens displaying local, national and international weather reports and a selection of high-end retail shops.

Construction was quickly approved and slated for completion in 2010.

The CTA initially provided $130 million of the projected $213.3 million needed to complete the project, with the rest covered by the city and private developers.

Now the project is running more than $100 million over budget, according to Huberman, who says cumbersome site logistics, skyrocketing materials costs and the unforeseen need to remove or relocate centuries worth of foundations, electrical lines and other "urban debris" is to blame.

Huberman's new proposal calls for an additional $45.6 million to complete construction on a scaled-down station "shell" and a tunnel linking the Red Line and Blue Lines - with no tracks, no station and no timetable for completion.

He said that the CTA would begin looking into leasing the tunnel to a private company that could offer its own deluxe airport rail service.

Huberman inherited this project from past CTA President Frank Kruesi and says it wasn't until late last summer that he began realizing the extent to which the project was over-budget.

"Ron and his staff have done the best job that they can to craft a solution to a very, very bad situation," CTA Chair Carole Browne told the board.

Huberman declined to provide any estimates on how much it would cost the CTA to complete the project in full, saying only that his current goal is to "preserve the asset." He assured the board that the expenditures still represented "well-spent money" with "tremendous" potential value.

But not everyone agreed.

"Today confirms my early reservation with block 37 and my personal ongoing criticisms," said board member Susan Leonis, who called the underground super-station "a disastrous project."

"We've probably spent $250 million for this lovely shell that we have in the middle of the city," Leonis said.

"I've always had a problem with spending this amount of money to operate our system when we really, really need it in other places," she said.

Leonis cast the only dissenting vote.

Although Browne said she was not convinced of the feasibility of finding a private partner to "come in and run premium service that is not necessarily more express," she voted in support of Huberman's plan.

"At this point, walking away really isn't an option," said Browne.

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