By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
SOUTH BEND -- Several times each year, Janis Sims boards the South Shore rail line and journeys into Chicago to take her grandchildren to a museum or to catch the Greyhound bus for visit with family in Minnesota or Missouri.
The comfort, convenience and cost that attract Sims to the commuter rail line also are convincing more travelers to leave their cars and take the train. Spurred in part by rising gasoline prices, ridership rose more than 7 percent in 2005 and the opening months of 2006 brought nearly an 11 percent increase in passengers.
Along with more company on the trains, in the coming years riders may enjoy a faster trip into the Windy City, be able to access the Internet on their laptops and pay a higher fare. The changes are part of a makeover the commuter rail is undertaking not only to serve current travelers but also future passengers.
Already, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which owns and operates the South Shore, has requested nearly $40 million from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and the Indiana Department of Transportation for 12 additional rail cars. The district also is studying the possibility of expanding service into Lowell and Valparaiso.
The NICTD has begun a series of public hearings to solicit comments about a pair of proposed rate increases. If approved, fares would increase 2 percent in August this year and another 2 percent in August 2007.
For riders who depart from South Bend, a one-way ticket to downtown Chicago would climb from $10.35 to $10.55 in 2006 and to $10.75 in 2007.
Ticket prices rose 10 percent in 2003 after not increasing since 1996. John Parsons, NICTD spokesman, said the district decided to shorten the time between bumps in fares so riders don't have to experience such sticker shock.
The fifth and final hearing will be at 8 p.m. May 11 in the Studebaker Room at South Bend Regional Airport. The public can make comments then or submit written statements about the pending rate hikes.
The district also is looking at re-routing the train in two places along the line, which could reduce the travel from South Bend to Chicago from 2 hours and 20 minutes to less than 2 hours.
In conjunction with the South Bend airport's expansion project, the South Shore station could be moved to the west side of the terminal. Parsons said the train must pass through about 23 grade crossings from Grand View Avenue on the west side of the city to the train station's location at the airport. Moving the station would reduce the number of crossings to six.
Moreover, 10 to 15 minutes would be shaved off the trip because the train would not have to wind around to reach the opposite end of the terminal.
"Now that's substantial, given the number of people we're carrying out of South Bend," Parsons said.
The NICTD also may change the route from traveling directly down the street in the middle of Michigan City to south of the metropolitan area. Parsons noted that while passengers find it quaint to ride through the heart of the city, that 2-mile section of track is the most expensive for the NICTD to maintain.
Not only would the re-routing save money, but it would take another 10 minutes off the trip to Chicago.
Finally, the district plans to add wireless Internet access to the commute, although no time frame has been set. Parsons said a private company, hired by NICTD, is installing equipment between the Dune Park and Ogden Dunes stops and will conduct a test this spring to see if the hardware and software needed for Wi-Fi works while traveling at 79 mph.