Upgrades continue on the South Shore Line.
The West Lake Corridor branch from Hammond to Dyer is almost 80-percent complete, according to Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) President Mike Noland.
The first part to open to passengers will be the new Hammond Gateway station, which is expected to replace the current station at Hohman Avenue in mid-August. That will require the double-track main line to be reduced to one track for a few weeks, as the line is rerouted.
Noland says another big part of the West Lake project is a bridge at the south end of the branch at Main Street. "[We] made some progress with our friends at CSX to try to advance that, including CSX has agreed to grant us a temporary construction crossing that's going to help us build some components of the project this fall that could've been pushed into next spring," Noland told the NICTD board Monday.
That will help keep the project on schedule, with service to Dyer starting in May 2025.
The trains themselves are also getting upgrades. Several of the South Shore's single-level cars are getting rehabbed, with new seats scheduled to be installed soon. The railroad is also leasing 26 rehabbed double-decker cars from Metra. So far, six have been put into South Shore service. The NICTD board approved a contract for heating and cooling system overhauls for the railroad's own double-decker cars.
Still, all those trains need some place to go.
The South Shore is partnering with Metra to add a fourth mainline track between 11th Street and Millennium Station in Chicago. Noland said that will improve reliability and add capacity downtown.
"This big phase one just occurred," Noland told board members. "It's probably the most complex portion of the project, but there will be some additional construction phasing over the next two years."
Upgrades are also planned to the electrical system that powers the trains.
The NICTD board hired John Burns Construction Company of Westmont, Illinois to build new substations at Pines and Miller and rehab the Columbia Avenue substation in Hammond, at a cost of almost $17 million.
Noland said it's the first part of a long-range plan. "What that lets us do is it gives us better reliability, but also we have issues where we can't accelerate the way the full potential of the equipment is because the substations are too far apart in some areas," Noland explained.
