On Tuesday or Wednesday the 4 millionth passenger this year will set foot on a South Shore train.
"The last time more than 4 million riders took the train was in 1957," John Parsons, spokesman for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, said. "That was almost 50 years ago when 4.2 million people rode the train."
NICTD counts each trip on the train as one rider, so a commuter would be counted as two persons in a typical work day.
After weekend numbers are in, NICTD officials will be able to predict by Monday which day ridership will hit the 4 million mark.
The number signifies a return of riders to the rails. It's been a gradual increase since ridership hit an all-time low in 1978 when only 1.46 million took the train.
The decline since midcentury, was due to a number of factors, including a movement of people to the suburbs spawning multivehicle households, fueled by the fact that the rail line was privately owned and maintained. As fewer people took the train, there were fewer funds to maintain the rail system.
"It was a gradual decline," Parsons said.
When Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties formed the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District in 1977, the South Shore began to receive government subsidies.
"Ridership started going back up as public funds began to be funneled into the operation and it began buying more cars," Parsons said.
Parsons also noted that in the South Shore's heyday -- in 1946 ridership hit an all-time high of 61.6 million -- travel wasn't largely to Chicago and back.
One rider might go from Michigan City for a doctor visit in Gary, and another might take a shopping trip from Gary to East Chicago.
In recent years, the numbers have started to climb even higher because of traffic congestion and spiraling gas prices.
Plans are in the works to purchase 14 cars at a cost of $45 million, $17.5 million of which will be funded through the Indiana Department of Transportation, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission and the Regional Development Authority.
The remainder will be paid for through bonding.