CHESTERTON, Ind. — The completion of the South Shore Line’s new West Lake Corridor branch will depend on construction of an underpass beneath CSX Transportation tracks, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board was told this week.
Lakeshore Public Media reports NICTD President Mike Noland said at a Monday, Nov. 25, board meeting that the underpass for Main Street in Dyer, Ind., will connect a parking lot to the southernmost station on the four-station, 8-mile branch, Munster/Dyer. Approval for that project has just been received from CSX, he said, and the contractor’s current schedule calls for completion in September 2025. That would push the opening of the line back from its longtime target of May 2025, but Noland said NICTD is working with the contractor to find ways to speed up the timeline.
“I’m not going to give up on May,” Noland told the board. “If it’s end of May or beginning of June or sometime in that time frame, we’ll see where it winds up.”
The $945 million project is about 90% complete, Noland said. The new Hammond Gateway station, which relocated the existing Hammond facility to accommodate the connection with the branch, opened in October [see “South Shore opens new Hammond, Ind., station,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 18, 2024].
The branch will known as the Monon Corridor when operations begin, and will offer nonstop peak-period service to and from Chicago, with shuttle service to Hammond during non-peak hours. More details on the project are available here.
At the behest of then Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. , Metra had done a research study to provide service on the former C&EI, now UP as far as Beecher. The study showed it was viable, but could not acquire the needed State and Federal funding.
With this new NICTD line in western Indiana, they are expecting a large number of Illinois residents to drive over to use it.
But the biggest winners will be residents of Valparaiso, Merrillville and Highland who were used to getting on crowded South Shore trains for their morning rush.
Confusingly, the planned terminus at Main Street (near the intersection with Columbia/Sheffield Avenue) in Dyer is 0.8 of a mile north of the existing Amtrak station in Dyer, along the same corridor (although it will be on new tracks on one side).
How long ago was this final route agreed? CSX just getting around to approving the underpass certainly is dragging its feet. The timing appears questionable as engineering would be tied up for the ERWIN work.
Finally, a construction update on this line. I know I have been asking for one here for awhile.
JOHN — I agree, this story has been under-reported. Where did the r/w come from? Was this a Monon line that was abandoned by CSX, or earlier by L&N?
Charles, it’s the Monon main and has still been in service south of Airline Junction. The r/w north of Airline Junction is the former Monon main that originally ran through South Hammond Yard and then connected to the Chicago & Western Indiana tracks in north Hammond. The tracks were removed long ago (80s/90s?), but the corridor was preserved in the hope of restoring service.
Is the West Lake Corridor electrified?
Yes, and in fact NICTD leased some EMUs from Metra to help cover the service.