S. Shore preps to get back on track

Train line makes plans to welcome back riders

While preparations to build its two major projects continue, the South Shore Line also is taking steps to welcome back its customers after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

Intensive cleaning practices on the railroad’s cars will continue once commuters can begin returning to work, South Shore Line President Michael Noland told the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board Wednesday.

The railroad also will hire more car-cleaning employees, hand sanitizers will be available in stations and on cars, and the marketing firm working for the South Shore will “help tell the public they can be confident returning” to the trains, he said.

The South Shore Line’s trains are carrying about 5% of their normal daily ridership since pandemic-prompted business closings began, Noland told the NICTD board, which conducted its meeting on a virtual platform.

The remaining passengers, many of whom work at Chicago medical centers, “are very appreciative of the efforts our employees are making,” Noland said.

But with the reduced passenger revenue, he added, “our finances are taking a substantial hit.”

Congress has appropriated $25 billion to help support commuter railroads, but Noland said the South Shore Line doesn’t know yet how much of that it will get.

“We’re confident we’ll be able to sustain operations for at least the next year or year and a half,” he said.

Meanwhile, the railroad will take advantage of the reduced ridership to repave the East Chicago station’s parking lot, normally its busiest.

With so few people still using the lot, the work doesn’t have to be done in stages.

The two-week project, which the NICTD board awarded Wednesday to Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Gary, was expected to begin Thursday.

Rieth-Riley’s $541,073 bid was the lowest of four submitted and was about $345,000 lower than it would have been if the work had to be staged, the board was told.

Noland told the board that engineering and property-acquisition work is continuing on the railroad’s two major projects.

The railroad expects to receive

the Federal Transit Administration’s full funding agreement later this year for the West Lake Corridor project, to build an eight-mile rail line and four stations between Hammond and Dyer.

The 1,000-plus construction jobs he anticipates for the West Lake project will be a “stimulus opportunity” for the economy, Noland added.

On the Double Track project, property appraisals are going on now, Noland said, and public open houses are still scheduled for June 10 and 11 in Michigan City and Gary, unless current social-distancing regulations continue then.