Construction is well under way on the South Shore Line’s Double Track NWI project and will begin soon on the West Lake Corridor project, the railroad’s president reported Monday.
“Things are going according to schedule,” Michael Noland told the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District’s board. “It’s an exciting time to see it all happen.”
Most of the Double Track work is going on in Michigan City, where 11th Street has been torn up, new rails are being laid, and a new boarding platform is being built for the 11th Street station.
The railroad has received few complaints from Michigan City residents despite street closings and detours for the project, Noland said.
“I take my hat off to all our employees,” he added. “Everyone is pitching in, everyone is leaning forward.”
Noland said he expects the stretch from Michigan City to the Dune Park station will be completed by the end of this year. South Shore Line passengers are riding chartered buses in that area now.
When completed in two more years, the $649 million Double Track project will have two sets of tracks between Michigan City and Gary, and new stations and boarding platforms at Michigan City’s 11th Street and Miller.
Construction work is expected to start in June on the West Lake Corridor project, a new set of tracks and four stations from Hammond to the Munster/Dyer border.
The work there will start in northern Hammond, the most complex part of the $945 million project. The F.H. Paschen Ragnar Benson joint venture has been working on the project’s design since October 2020 and also will build it.
The NICTD board approved a $7.4 million change order for several modifications to the West Lake project. About $6.6 million of that is to be covered by the town of Munster for design changes the town wants in the Ridge Road and Munster/Dyer stations.
The West Lake project is to be completed about three years from now.
And when the construction work is done, passengers on the West Lake line will ride in the 32 1992-vintage South Shore Line cars that are being extensively rehabilitated now at the railroad’s shops in Michigan City.
“Our riders will look at basically new cars,” Noland said.
On the railroad’s existing route, he added, riders will see 14 more of the double-decker cars that the South Shore has been leasing from the Metra rail service.
And, he said, the railroad will continue its practice of extensively cleaning and sanitizing all its the cars, which it began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also Monday, Porter County Commissioner Jeff Good said his county’s project to rebuild the Calumet Trail, an 11-mile trail from northern Porter County to the edge of Michigan City, could be completed about the same time the Double Track project is.
“I’m really excited,” Good said. “It’s going to be a gem.”
Also, the NICTD board heard discontent from two South Shore Line employees.
“We really need help with management-labor relations,” conductor Moe Ibrahin, of Valparaiso, said. “Things have to get better.”
Gary resident Scott Kooi, an engineer, said a policy change not allowing employees to take personal days off without pay is “causing a lot of discord in our department.” He said some people are looking for other jobs.
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