By PAULENE POPARAD

“A number of variables must be considered before we implement this,” said South Shore commuter line marketing director John Parsons.

He was responding to the question, when would the South Shore put into effect a schedule change approved Friday by a divided Northwestern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board, which owns and operates the South Bend-to-Chicago railroad. Parsons estimated it would take at least 30 days.

It’s a schedule change that approximately 70 percent of 441 citizen comments received on the proposal did not support. Neither did Lake County Commissioner and NICTD board member Frances DuPey. “Right now we’re put together as commuter rail and they should come first,” she said. Her motion not to change the schedule failed 3-8.

NICTD’s board subsequently voted 9-2 to reschedule the Randolph Station departure for weekday eastbound Train 119 from 8:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m., and Train 121 from 10:15 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. Also, the eastbound weekend/holiday Train 619 will depart Randolph at 11:15 p.m. rather than 10 p.m. Currently the next train following the 10 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. trains is at 12:45 a.m.

The change is an attempt to meet the growing demand for off-peak service, especially for recreational riders who attend evening theater, musical or athletic events in Chicago and said the 12:45 a.m. train’s departure was too late. So far this year off-peak travel has risen by 4.6 percent while over the last 12 months peak ridership is down 1.9 percent due to a soft Chicago job market.

Nevertheless, post-rush hour regular commuters who leave the Loop later in the evening had indicated the additional weekday wait from 8:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. would be too long. NICTD board member Dennis Burke, a South Shore crew member who represents employees, told other board members, “It makes a difference if you sit here for 45 more minutes after this meeting.”

The revised schedule was recommended by NICTD staff as a way to meet demand and increase productivity of crew and equipment without increasing costs. A second option that would have affected two trains departing Gary, one overcrowded, wasn’t approved.

Voting for the schedule change were DuPey, who said she would support the majority, Lake County Council member Will Smith Jr., LaPorte County Council member Mark Yagelski, LaPorte County Commissioner Barbara Huston, Porter County Commissioner’s representative Leon West, Porter County Council member Al Steele, St. Joseph County Council member Mark Catanzarite, St. Joseph County Commissioner and NICTD Chairman David Niezgodski, and gubernatorial appointment Dr. George Smerk of Indiana University.

Voting no were Burke and board member Paul Pobereyko, who represents commuters; he noted off-peak ridership has increased under the current schedule. But Niezgodski said lives change and jobs change, adding, “We have to have an open ear to the future ridership.” West said the approved change doesn’t affect commuters going to work, and the evening change won’t be that much of an adjustment. Countered DuPey, “All changes are at the expense of somebody.”

From the audience, citizen Fred Meyer of Valparaiso University urged the board to make the change. “I think it’s a worthy experiment.”

Smerk said the schedule “isn’t cast in concrete for the next 500 years” because it will have to be changed when a planned extension of South Shore service from Hammond to Lowell and Valparaiso along a new route dubbed West Lake comes online.

West Lake promoted

The project received a major boost in the recent Indiana General Assembly where a Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority was created to fund, among other activities, transportation improvements in Lake and Porter counties including West Lake, hailed by many as a major economic-development initiative.

Indiana 4th District State Rep. Ralph Ayres, Chesterton, Friday outlined NIRDA’s legislative history for the NICTD board as well as his hopes for NIRDA; portions of the legislation go into effect July 1. Porter County has two NIRDA seats, Lake County four and one gubernatorial appointment; five votes are needed for official action. Ayres said the board was kept small to be a “think tank, a working group.”

Appointments due Sept. 1 have yet to be made. “It will be important to pick the right person to represent the appointing entity,” said Ayres.

“To access federal dollars we needed an RDA to work,” said Ayres. “If one entity doesn’t participate the state doesn’t transfer $5 million to $10 million a year (in Indiana Toll Road revenue to NIRDA).”

Tuesday, the Porter County Council will debate whether to fund its share of the local revenue needed to leverage other state and federal monies. Ayres said not only will the West Lake line to Valparaiso benefit Porter County but also the Porter County Airport could receive NIRDA funding as well. The first NIRDA money could begin flowing in January.

Ayres said four-county NICTD is “a living example of what a regional board can do and you have a record of success.” He said NICTD can work hand-in-hand with NIRDA because the railroad knows the area’s needs.

Ayres said LaPorte County was approached about participating in NIRDA but declined at this time.

In a related matter, NICTD board members approved hiring consultant STV Incorporated of Chicago to undertake the next studies needed to advance West Lake. Data will be updated and planning assumptions from a previous study refreshed to meet current federal criteria; preliminary engineering and environmental analysis also will be conducted.

The contract won’t exceed $3 million and the work is expected to take 18-24 months. Getting West Lake on a federal scoring list as soon as possible to qualify it for future funding is critical, said NICTD staff, a committee of which ranked STV highest of six proposals submitted to conduct the studies.

Signal modernization continues

NICTD’s Vic Babin updated the board on the modernization of the signals, communications and catenary power distribution systems. Phase 1 work is ongoing from Gary to Kensington in Illinois, and a new $2.4 million operations control center in Michigan City under separate contract is virtually completed. The center will dispatch trains electronically rather than having to manually throw switches allowing for faster train speeds; the building also will be the hub of a new passenger communications office with provisions for railroad homeland security.

Phase 1 includes installing station and right-of-way video surveillance and 65 miles of direct burial fiber-optic cable in ducts from South Bend to Kensington with an 80-mile aerial back-up pathway.

Babin requested and was granted an extension to March 2006 for contractor Divane Brothers to concurrently finish $31.5 million Phase 1 while initiating the bulk of Phase 2 work from Michigan City to Gary at a cost of $13.7 million; $1.6 million of Phase 2 for design and materials already had been authorized.

The total $60 million signal upgrade is part of an overall $102 million railroad modernization through 2009.

Posted 5/23/2005