These are the tracks looking east from the Amtrak station in South Bend. Hartman says more and more people are opting to travel by rail. (South Bend Tribune/SANTIAGO FLORES / October 7, 2012)
SOUTH BEND -- Amtrak's 41-year-old South Bend station counted more than 23,600 boardings and alightings last year, an increase driven partly by rising gas prices and partly by frustrated travelers seeking alternatives to intrusive airport security.
The station, served by the Lake Shore Limited and the Capitol Limited, provides two morning trains each day to Chicago for connections to hundreds of western cities and two evening trains each day to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and points between.
"Connecting to other Amtrak trains, you would have a large number of choices to the north and west and south of here," says Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. "Going east you could be going to nearby places like Toledo or Cleveland or farther away places like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, New York, Washington or Boston."
Nancy Hartman, a customer service representative at the South Bend station for nearly 26 years, says it's the last remaining staffed station in northern Indiana. Fort Wayne's station is closed, and the Elkhart station is open but not staffed.
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