The South Shore Line may take another look at bringing back a stop in New Carlisle.
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) President Mike Noland says a study six years ago found there wasn't enough ridership to justify the stop, but now, the area is seeing major investment, with an Amazon data center and a General Motors/Samsung electric vehicle battery plant. "We now have thousands of new jobs that are coming to that area, and there's an expectation that there will be a fair amount of growth in or around that area," Noland told the NICTD board Monday.
The NICTD board agreed to partner with the St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission to update the study, at a cost of roughly $150,000.
Noland said a New Carlisle stop is part of the county's vision, and it's already purchased a potential station site. NICTD board member and St. Joseph County Commissioner Carl Baxmeyer said the town itself is much more open to the idea than it was in the past.
It's likely that the new station would replace the lightly-used Hudson Lake stop, Noland said. But he noted that the study is very preliminary, and a New Carlisle stop is still at least three to five years away, if it happens at all.
The South Shore Line is also getting closer to having a shorter route into South Bend Airport. Currently, trains head slightly past the airport and then circle back to approach the terminal from the east.
The NICTD board Monday approved an interim agreement with the airport authority, which Noland said will pave the way for a move to the west side of the airport. "We have an engineering and environmental study going on right now to make that happen," Noland added.
The railroad would start paying the airport $75,000 a year to use the east side. Meanwhile, they'll continue negotiating for a lease of property and a permanent easement for the west side. Once that's in place, the railroad could move forward with securing grants and local funding.
The interim agreement follows two years of negotiations. The South Shore has continued serving the airport through a series of 60-day extensions to their old agreement.
The realignment would shorten travel times and would also leave the door open to a possible extension to downtown South Bend.
