south shore line

The past five years have brought big changes to the South Shore Line's ridership patterns but also to private-sector development along the rail line.

"We are working with the contractor to try to make sure that they bring that schedule back to something that we believe is reasonable," Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District President Mike Noland told the NICTD board Monday.

The South Shore Line service was disrupted for much of the day Wednesday, due to overhead wire damage near Hammond.

Nighttime South Shore Line trains will be replaced by buses between Gary and Michigan City. The railroad says the busing will take place between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. through Saturday night.

"We're having days when we're 60-percent on-time, and early in the summer, we were reporting 25-percent OTP, which is not good," Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District President Mike Noland told the NICTD board last month. "And we're not satisfied at 60 percent."

The South Shore Line will provide service to the Indiana University-Notre Dame College Football Playoff game December 20. Shuttle buses will take passengers from the South Bend Airport station to the IU School of Medicine building on the Notre Dame campus.

Last December, the city paused the bus route that connected Valparaiso with the Dune Park South Shore station. Last week, the board of works voted to cut the route permanently.

The South Shore Line is warning passengers to expect delays and changes at Van Buren Street. The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District is currently working with Metra to add a fourth track between 11th Street and Millennium Station, where the line currently narrows to three tracks.

Train service is scheduled to shift to the new Gateway Station at Sheffield Avenue on Friday, October 18.

The South Shore Line is running extra service for Sunday's Chicago Marathon.