What’s next for the South Shore Line?
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With the Double Track project on the South Shore Line in northwest Indiana complete, officials are now looking to the future.
Crews are expected to finish work on the $945 million West Lake Corridor extension in about a year from now, but Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District President Mike Noland says they are already thinking beyond that point, including improvements to the line’s service into South Bend.
“We have a 20-year strategic plan, and I think if you look through it, we’ve probably checked the box on almost everything that was in that plan that was passed in 2014,” Noland said. “So I think the first thing we do is we need a new plan.”
Officials cut the ribbon Monday on the $649 million Double Track project, which added a second rail line along a 17-mile stretch between Gary and Michigan City, reducing travel time to Chicago by about 30 minutes.
The West Lake Corridor extension, which brings the South Shore Line from Hammond south about eight miles to Dyer. But Noland said the extension is really only a first phase.
“The West Lake project was always initially designed to go farther into Lake County to Lowell, St. John and Cedar Lake,” said Noland, though specific plans to extend the line even further have not been identified.
In South Bend, the NICTD is exploring the possibility of moving the rail line’s connection to South Bend International Airport from the east side of the airport to the west side.
“It will save 12 to 15 minutes for every train to and from Chicago and get South Bend down to what our goal has been in that area—down to that 90-minute mark to and from Chicago,” Noland said.
Noland said they are seeing huge support for the airport effort, but there are designs to go even farther.
“The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Board did amend our strategic plan last September and made it a goal of the district to get to downtown South Bend as well,” he said. “So we’re looking at our investments in South Bend as a phased project. Phase one: get to the west side of the airport. Phase two: get to downtown.”
Noland previously told Inside INdiana Business that bringing the track to downtown South Bend could cost an estimated $250 million to $300 million — and would require building adjacent to track owned by Norfolk Southern Railway.
NICTD officials plan to begin exploring the strategic initiatives that the region wants to see from the South Shore Line over the next year.
Looking even more long-term, there are even more opportunities for expansion, according to Noland.
“[There are] opportunities to potentially get service to Valparaiso, or extending the line in other locations farther to the east past South Bend,” he said. “Who knows what the next phase of the development of the system will be? But there’s opportunities for that.”