NICTD: $15 Million to move track in South Bend

Gerald Hanas, general manager of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, was in Elkhart yesterday talking about the realignment prospects in South Bend ... the story from The Elkhart Truth.

Operators of the commuter railroad are seeking funds to realign the track as it departs South Bend Regional Airport, the eastern endpoint of the line. The change would shave six to eight minutes off the trip to Chicago.

Gerald Hanas, general manager of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which operates the South Shore, said Wednesday that he hopes the needed funding, around $15 million, can be earmarked within the next year from a mix of state and federal sources. Airport officials have already started buying the needed right-of-way to build new track, most of it through green spaces.

Then it’d probably take another year to build the new section. “It’s a high priority project,” said Hanas, speaking at the annual transportation reception here sponsored by the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce.

So if everything worked out we could see a South Bend realignment in two years. Probably overly optimistic.

As for extending service (which is suggested by supporters of Midwest High Speed Rail who wish to bypass South Bend and Elkhart with trains through Fort Wayne):

Meanwhile, don’t expect extension of the South Shore Line further east to Elkhart anytime soon. To do that, South Shore would likely have to utilize existing Norfolk Southern Railroad line and Hanas doesn’t think that’s a feasible option.

I agree with Mr Hanas ... and hope the HSR people don't keep using the empty promise of an extended South Shore as an excuse to remove existing Amtrak services from the line through South Bend and Elkhart.

(Story at http://www.etruth.com/article/20111208/NEWS01/712089939 )

Just out of curiosity, why does the current alignment into South Bend look like it was laid out by someone on a three-day bender? Surely they could have come up with something a bit straighter, faster and more direct??

It was a freight-only spur to service an industrial park north of the airport. The lead to the spur once serviced Bendix and Kuert concrete. When the industrial park was developed, the spur was extended a few miles north. At one time, this spur was streetrunning in Bendix Drive but around 1970 it was shifted to the shoulder.

To answer your question more, it was not deemed important to build ROW capable of handling much more than a locomotive and a few boxcars at 10mph.

http://www.monon.monon.org/bygonepixs/1 ... 4-6-75.jpg

http://www.monon.monon.org/strombeck/12 ... ix1-sm.jpg

http://www.monon.monon.org/strombeck/12 ... ix2-sm.jpg

Main site:
http://www.monon.monon.org/rr/SLsouthshore.html

ohioriverrailway wrote:Just out of curiosity, why does the current alignment into South Bend look like it was laid out by someone on a three-day bender? Surely they could have come up with something a bit straighter, faster and more direct??

With the Bendix station in a very deplorable situation, NICTD was desperate to move out as soon as possible, and it was more economical at the time to use existing track, rather than go through the time, hassle and expense of purchasing land and laying new track, with money that NICTD simply did not have at the time.

BTW: NICTD filed for permission earlier this year to sell the old Amtrak station and property to Amtrak. I didn't realize that NICTD owned it. Amtrak has been leasing the space and wants to purchase it and make renovations.

I cannot understand why Amtrak wants to BUY a shack on the rough side of town. And then sink money into it. How about building a station in Mishawaka where people feel safe boarding trains late at night or leaving a car other than a Pinto? The Mishawaka freight station is probably up for sale, and I know of plenty of land alongside the ROW that could be used for a station.

Also, what is the history of that depot? When was it built, and when did each railroad start using it? Was it used by PC ever? Did Amtrak ever use SB Union Station or a site downtown?

What exactly is this proposed alignment? Surely if land acquisition has begun a map must be drawn already.

Tadman wrote:Also, what is the history of that depot? When was it built, and when did each railroad start using it? Was it used by PC ever? Did Amtrak ever use SB Union Station or a site downtown?

From what I can tell it was built in 1970 when the end of the line was moved there from downtown. The building was needed to provide office space for train crews (which they lost by not going downtown to the yard) plus a waiting area for passengers. According to the Federal Register, Amtrak has been using the station since 1975.

Amtrak has used the Property since 1975 and wishes to continue to use it for an Amtrak station. NICTD has not used it since 1992. Because Amtrak seeks to make major renovations to the station to make it more usable for their passengers and Amtrak is the only entity using the Property, NICTD seeks to relinquish ownership of the Property to Amtrak.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) requests permission to transfer title to approximately 1.97 acres of property, with a parking lot and one (1) Building approximately 5900 square feet in South Bend, Indiana, to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) free of charge for continued use as the Amtrak Rail Passenger Station for South Bend. This property was acquired by NICTD in 1989 through NICTD's purchase of the passenger assets of the bankrupt Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad; the purchase was financed, in part, through FTA project IN-03-0061.

This property is located at 2702 West Washington Street in South Bend, Indiana, 46628, and is bounded on the north by Washington Street, on the east by Meade Street, on the south by the Norfolk Southern Railway tracks and on the west by the SouthShore Freight Railroad's Bendix Yard. On the property is an asphalt parking lot with a capacity for approximately thirty (30) automobiles. The building is a one story, cement block building constructed in 1970 that has a waiting room, a ticket office and an enclosed, secure area to store checked baggage.

Source: http://www.federalregister.gov/articles ... ility#p-18

In my pipe dream vision of extending the South Shore to Elkhart along the NS line my stops included the downtown transportation center (used by Transpo) between Main St and Michigan St, Mishawaka near Church St, "Jimtown" just east of the county line north of the NS yard (this would be my location for a commuter parking lot for people riding the extension to one of the three stations in South Bend/Mishawaka or further west to Chicago as well as people riding east from there to downtown Elkhart). The final station would be just west of the Amtrak station in Elkhart - my plan had a two track platform similar to the one at the airport just north of the Amtrak platform. At the time I was smoking that pipe I was thinking that this would be a separate track running along side of the NS line, used for a shuttle service between the South Bend Airport and downtown Elkhart (with the potential to extend the line down to Goshen, or at least Dunlap with another commuter parking lot near CR 17). Now I am older I am envisioning DMUs running on the NS track, although there are still places where an additional track would be desired.

Perhaps improvements at the South Bend Amtrak station will change the perception and take it from being a run down dump with a small parking lot last paved 40 years ago to being something more like the Dearborn, MI, Amtrak station. A well lit parking area with conspicuous security cameras would help. I don't know what the crime statistics are at the current station but I agree with the impression that this isn't a place to leave a vehicle one values. Even if that impression isn't true.

Amtrak7 wrote:What exactly is this proposed alignment? Surely if land acquisition has begun a map must be drawn already.

The airport had it posted on their website a couple of years back. It may have fallen off of the site during a redesign.

The path from the west would leave the current alignment just east of Holmes St, crossing Ardmore and heading north to Edison between Chaimberland St and Butternut Rd. A turn to the east would take the alignment just south of Lynn St crossing Mayflower Rd north of the new traffic circle. After passing south of the N-S runway the alignment would turn north following Progress Drive to new platforms on the west side of the airport near the current bus terminal.

The land north of Edison Rd is approved for acquisition by the airport (they wanted it for the runway expansion, road realignments and future business park expansion). The connection south of Edison would have to be acquired by the South Shore.

(Edit: The documents have been removed from the airport website. They were referred to in a previous thread on this topic.)

^ The southern portion of the alignment


^ The alignment taken from the September 2006 presentation

By the looks of the map, it appears some developed private property will need to be taken. True or false?

Though it proves very little consolation the parking lot was actually repaved a couple months ago in September (I found this out first hand trying to find a place to park when my wife and I were riding Amtrak to Arizona).

Other than that I can't really see how Amtrak can make the depot look more appealing in that part of town.

Amtrak7 wrote:By the looks of the map, it appears some developed private property will need to be taken. True or false?

That's what is mostly holding NICTD up in the relocation plans. Too many landowners are not willing to sell to the railroad.

JLJ061 wrote:Though it proves very little consolation the parking lot was actually repaved a couple months ago in September (I found this out first hand trying to find a place to park when my wife and I were riding Amtrak to Arizona).

Other than that I can't really see how Amtrak can make the depot look more appealing in that part of town.

Good to hear about the paving. The Federal Register notice was from June. Perhaps the transfer went through and Amtrak has begun to spend money there.

Amtrak7 wrote:By the looks of the map, it appears some developed private property will need to be taken. True or false?

"Taken" might be a bit harsh. Hopefully the neighbors cooperate and few transactions will get to the level of eminent domain. Most of the property the airport wants as part of this 2006 expansion plan has been successfully acquired.

JLJ061 wrote:That's what is mostly holding NICTD up in the relocation plans. Too many landowners are not willing to sell to the railroad.

Actually they are selling to the airport authority. There are only a few properties that are not already owned by the airport. The biggest being the Mayflower Rd Baptist Church. Only one other property between Lynn St (North), Edison (South), Mayflower (East) and Oak Rd (West) is not airport owned. Five properties on the north side of Lynn might be uncomfortable with a railroad across the street but the line could be built before acquiring their properties. There is only one property east of Mayflower that is affected and not already owned by the airport and that is the rental car service center on Moss Rd.

Between Edison and Ardmore there are about a dozen property owners to deal with but some of the properties along Oak St are already owned by the airport. With the economy the way it is a "fair market value" is not what it was a couple of years ago but at least when these people move they will be able to buy at current prices. I expect that an "above market value" offer by the airport will satisfy most people ... although there always seems to be holdouts.

I thought a few years ago Amtrak looked into moving the South Bend station back downtown but the NS blocked the move since it would interfere with some freight movements in and out of a nearby yard. I don't know how four trains a day, each stopping for five minutes or so would screw up freight operations, but NS apparently thought it was serious enough.

CHTT and Everyone: What would it take for CSS&SB to serve downtown South Bend?
With the Airport station's track configuration will this be possible without a change-end
stop there?

MACTRAXX

MACTRAXX wrote:CHTT and Everyone: What would it take for CSS&SB to serve downtown South Bend?
With the Airport station's track configuration will this be possible without a change-end
stop there?

The current airport track and the future plan both have a stub end platform - which would require a change-end stop. The only ways to avoid a change-end stop would be to run the track through the airport and find a path through the Bendix area back to the NS line (a very unlikely scenario) or to run a train through to downtown without stopping at the airport (also unlikely). With any extension to the east expect a change-end stop (or a change train stop, running a separate shuttle from the airport to downtown).