PORTER, Ind. — The agency overseeing South Shore Line commuter rail operation has approved a contract for engineering work to relocate the rail terminal at the South Bend International Airport, as well as design a new rail route into the airport.
The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, at its Monday meeting, approved the $6 million deal with engineering firm DLZ to do the planning work to move the station from the east side of the airport to the west side, as well as improve the current slow, circuitous route into the airport. Currently, trains need more than 10 minutes to travel the final 2 miles to the airport station.
The change, along with the ongoing double-track project on the South Shore between Gary and Michigan City, Ind., could cut the travel time between the airport and downtown Chicago to 90 minutes. It is currently more than 2 hours.
DLZ is to complete its engineering work by March 2024, but the contract calls for completion of a preliminary environmental study by September 2023, which would qualify the project for federal grants.
The NICTD board revived the plan to relocate the airport station earlier this year [see “Plan to move South Shore station …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 3, 2022]. The idea had last been discussed in 2017 but met opposition from local landowners, and was also caught up in discussions about relocating the South Bend station to downtown. That proposal remains possible if the city wishes to pursue it in the future, NICTD President Michael Noland said.
The better idea would be to parallel the Water Level Route to the old South Bend NYC (and GTW) station. Not likely, but if you think “downtown” is a destination, then neither Amtrak nor CSS&SB is currently convenient, and a joint station would be more rider friendly.
South Bend Airport is served from South Bend by Transpo with 30min. service M-F from 5.50 AM to 9.15 PM; hourly Sat from 6.40 AM to 5.40 PM and no Sunday service.
https://sbtranspo.com/images/uploads/pdfs/4_Schedule_web.pdf