South Shore Line’s Double Track project chugs past the finish line

A host of state and local dignitaries, including the governor of Indiana, a U.S. senator and two Congressional representatives, celebrated the South Shore Line’s new Double Track service Monday.

On Tuesday, a new railroad schedule made possible by the project will go into effect.

The new schedule includes 14 more weekday trains than before, as well as reduced travel times.

The schedule includes express trains, running with fewer stops, that will cut the travel times between Chicago and Northwest Indiana dramatically.

On Monday, Gov. Eric Holcomb and South Shore Line President Michael Noland rode a special two-car train to a ribbon-cutting event at the new Miller station.

“Better than Ever” was the event’s theme.

“This railroad is poised to perform as never before,” Noland told more than 200 people seated under a large tent in the station’s parking lot.

Budgeted as a $650 million project – though Noland said it could wind up closer to $600 million – Double Track’s second set of tracks between Gary and Michigan City has made faster and more reliable service on the South Shore Line possible, speakers said.

“I marvel at what is to come,” Holcomb said.

He praised the bipartisan cooperation in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., that made the South Shore Line’s largest-ever projects possible. Those are the Double Track and the $945 million West Lake Corridor project, under construction now between Hammond and Dyer.

Holcomb has enthusiastically supported both projects for improving connections between Northwest Indiana and Chicago’s economy.

Those projects, he said, prove that “Indiana can do big things.”

The Double Track project, Sen. Todd Young said, “will yield material benefits to this generation and future generations.”

Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said Double Track will be “a catalyst for economic growth” in the region.

And his daughter could be riding the train to and from art school classes in Chicago, he added.

Congressman Rudy Yakym, who represents the congressional district that includes South Bend, called Dan Huge, the state’s public finance director, an “unsung hero” for putting together the projects’ financial packages.

At a brief news conference after the event, Holcomb reiterated his enthusiasm for the railroad’s projects.

“The word is out: Good things are happening,” he said. “We really are taking this region and the state to the next level.

“This will have a transformational impact on families and individuals.”

Noland thanked the South Shore Line riders “who stayed with us the whole way,” even though many had to ride buses instead of trains in the Double Track area for about two years.

He said he expects ridership to increase with the new service, and that the South Shore Line might have to adjust its schedule and its fare structure in the future.

“We’ll see over the next six months how we do,” he said.

The Double Track’s final cost could wind up close to $600 million instead of the projected $650 million, Noland said, because the railroad has watched expenses carefully and has held change orders to under 2% of the project’s cost.

One of the people watching Monday’s ceremony with special interest was Gerald Hanas, the South Shore Line’s general manager for 39 years before he retired in 2014.

The South Shore Line had known for years that “the assets just weren’t right” for better service, he said.

“We slowly laid the groundwork (for Double Track) with new catenary and new signals,” he said.

During his time in leadership, the railroad laid about six miles of double track west from Ogden Dunes – a stretch of track without bridges, Hanas noted.

“When I left, there were people pushing to start the project,” he said. “But we didn’t have the money. We could not get a federal grant without local funding.”

The formation of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, along with state government support, helped change that.

The Double Track project has included 16.9 miles of new tracks, four new bridges, and new high-level platforms at the Miller, Portage/Ogden Dunes and (Michigan City) 11th Street stations, as well as more than 1,400 additional parking places.

Preparation began before Noland came to the South Shore Line in 2014.

In 2013, after more than two years of studies and meetings, Michigan City and NICTD reached an agreement that a new two-track corridor – one of three alternatives studied — should replace the existing single-track alignment dating to the early 20th century.

In 2016, the Indiana General Assembly agreed to provide $180 million, over 30 years, for the project. The legislature would add to that support in later years.

In 2021, the Federal Transit Administration agreed to provide $173 million toward the project’s cost, then estimated at $494 million. Construction activity began late that year.

In 2022, additional federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act allowed the project’s cost to increase to about $650 million, restoring some elements of the project that had been cut earlier. Holcomb presided over an official ground-breaking ceremony in Michigan City that year, and passengers began riding buses between Michigan City and Gary.

Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.