CHESTERTON — The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board on Friday removed two of the potential station sites being studied for the West Lake Corridor extension project.
One of the two possibilities for a Hammond "gateway" station and a Munster site between 45th Avenue and Fisher Street were eliminated from the environmental impact study the railroad is preparing this year.
The Federal Transportation Administration recommended cutting sites unlikely for a station.
"You need to start to pare down the options," NICTD General Manager Michael Noland told the board.
The eliminated Hammond gateway option was the western-most of two options in an area just north of downtown where the new railroad extension could join up with the current South Shore line. The option situated just slightly east of there remains in the study and will be examined further.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. has expressed a strong preference for the gateway station option that remains. It could allow passengers coming from the extension to go either west into Chicago or to points east.
The 45th and Fisher station in Munster would have required an elevated station.
Both the rejected Hammond gateway option and the 45th and Fisher station would have been elevated stations with limited parking and difficult pedestrian access, Noland said.
"Munster doesn't want it," he added of the site there. And, "it's way more expensive for us."
The Munster station at Ridge Road, along with one at the Munster/Dyer town line, and stations in south Hammond and downtown Hammond remain in the study, a draft of which is scheduled to be completed this fall.
The $571 million project is expected to be completed in 2023. For more information on the project, including maps and a schedule, visit www.nictdwestlake.com.
The NICTD board also took action Friday to move forward a project to add a second track to about 18 miles of the rail line between Gary and Michigan City.
The board approved an engineering contract paying up to $4 million to HDR Inc. to provide a preliminary design for the "double tracking" project, including an environmental review.
Noland said the work will be completed by August 2017 in order to present the project to the Federal Transportation Administration for its consideration, with the idea that the federal government would pay half the cost of the project, which could be $200 million.
Noland said members of the Indiana General Assembly expressed support for the project, with the expectation that local agencies will commit resources to the project.
NICTD officials see the project as a way to reduce travel times to Chicago. "We significantly reduce the time, we significantly increase the ridership," Noland said.