BY MARTIN ZABELL, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
HAMMOND | A picture really is sometimes worth 1,000 words.
On Wednesday, a picture guaranteed the Lake County Convention & Visitors Bureau's unanimous support of a plan to extend the South Shore railroad line's plan to extend service to Lowell and Valparaiso.
The picture in question was part of a 30-minute slide presentation by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District and the Northwest Indiana Forum to the visitors bureau's board at the latter's monthly meeting.
The picture showed there are 10 railroad lines to and from downtown Chicago and the northern, western, and southern suburbs of Illinois and only one from Chicago to Indiana. Board member Raymond Rucoba told the presenters that they should put the map in all of their brochures that advocate the railroad extension.
Rucoba's colleagues focused on the map while Forum chairman John Diederich discussed how commuters from Illinois had easier access to downtown Chicago jobs than Northwest Indiana residents. Forum president Vincent Galbiati earlier estimated that Cook County jobs pay 39 percent more than those in Northwest Indiana.
"We're clearly being disadvantaged," Diederich said, as he showed the map to board members for the second time.
During the presentation, NICTD general manager Jerry Hanas said the railroad extension is needed because the 4.2 million passengers that used the current line in 2006 was the highest it has been since 1957, ridership rose 10.7 percent in 2006 from 2005, there is standing-room-only service during many rush-hour trains, and Northwest Indiana's population rapidly is growing.
Hanas added that economic development experts expect an additional 800,000 jobs in Cook County by 2030 and Northwest Indiana residents need access to them.
"We need to gain (better) access to the Chicago jobs sector," he said. "The collar counties (in Illinois) maintain a competitive edge over us because of their rail systems."
The approximately $1 billion plan includes 19 miles of tracks from Munster to Lowell, 24 miles of tracks to Valparaiso, and train stations at the two cities and along the two routes. Hanas said the Regional Development Authority pledged $150 million for the project and the U.S. government would match a $500 million local contribution.
Hanas also said that a NICTD-Policy Analytics of Indiana study estimated that the railroad extension will create 26,000 jobs.
"We need a $350 million bond issue to make this work," he said. "It's truly an economic development project with a large return for Northwest Indiana," Hanas said.
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