The days of riding buses instead of trains on part of the South Shore Line are over.
Soon, the railroad will offer more and faster trains between Northwest Indiana and Chicago, thanks to the Double Track NWI project.
On May 14, the South Shore Line’s new schedule — with additional trains and new times — will go into effect, the railroad announced Thursday.
The new schedule is available on the railroad’s website, mysouthshoreline.com, under the “news” tab.
The current schedule will remain in effect until the new one starts.
The new schedule will include 14 additional weekday trains, revised times, reduced travel times, and new limited-stop express service on weekdays.
Scheduled travel times to Chicago’s Millennium station on the new express trains include: Michigan City, 67 minutes; Dune Park, 57 minutes, Portage/Ogden Dunes, 51 minutes; Miller, 46 minutes; and South Bend, 106 minutes.
Some weekend train times also have been modified.
Other aspects of the new schedule, the South Shore Line’s announcement said, will include more trains originating from the new Miller station and the new 11th Street station in Michigan City, and more morning and afternoon rush hour train time options.
New high-level platforms allowing ADA access are at 11th Street, Portage/Ogden Dunes, and Miller.
Also, the Bikes on Trains program will be expanded to include all trains, all year long, at existing Bikes on Trains stations.
With the completion of Double Track, the stations at Miller, Portage/Ogden Dunes and 11th Street have been added to the program because of their new platforms.
“We sincerely appreciate passengers’ patience and understanding throughout the construction, temporary busing and schedule revisions required to reach substantial completion of the Double Track project,” the South Shore’s announcement said.
South Shore Line President Michael Noland added, when contacted, that the schedule is likely to change in the near future.
“We probably will add weekend trains,” he said. “And we will be adjusting the weekday schedule as we see things evolve.
“This is not cast in stone.”
For the past two years, while the Double Track project was under construction between Gary and Michigan City, passengers rode buses between the two cities, or later along part of that route.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
