Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) is alerting South
Shore passengers and communities to the third in a series of planned
temporary weekend construction outages that will cause a temporary
suspension of train service east of Dune Park Station.
The South Shore Line will not provide train or bus service between South
Bend and Dune Park Station on the following weekends from 2:30 a.m. Saturday
through 3:00 a.m. Monday: This weekend-June 4-6, June 18-20, July 16-18,
August 13-15, August 27-29, September 10-12 and September 24-26.
All trains will run normal weekend service westbound between Dune Park
Station and Chicago.
Stations affected by this outage include South Bend, Hudson Lake, Carroll
Ave. and 11th St. in Michigan City, and Beverly Shores.
During these weekend outages passengers are encouraged to use Dune Park
Station. It is conveniently located east of the intersection of SR 49 and US
Highway 12 in Chesterton, approximately two miles north of I-94 (exit 26B)
and seven miles north of the Indiana Toll Rd (exit SR49 North). It is a
modern station with a large, enclosed waiting area, restrooms and parking.
NICTD is in the final year of a three-year effort to modernize its overhead
wire between Michigan City and Gary. The overhead wire, or catenary,
supplies electricity for train propulsion.
This $18M project will replace over 100 miles of electrical conductor, some
of which dates back to the 1920s. This wire is old, brittle and subject to
failure. These failures are the single leading cause of significant service
disruptions and lengthy train delays.
The construction plan calls for the contractor to upgrade many of the
components under traffic. However, the contractor must have uninterrupted
weekend access to the track in order to remove old wire and suspend new
wire. Nearly all of Phase Two work will be done in single track territory
requiring temporary weekend service outages.
If someone is flying into either O'Hare or Midway they may still reach
points in Indiana by using Coach USA. Coach USA provides bus transportation
to and from Midway and O'Hare to various cities in northern Indiana
including Michigan City, Notre Dame, Mishawaka and South Bend. For more
information visit their website at
www.coachusa.com
For weekend outage updates check the website
www.nictd.com
or
call the pre-recorded weekend outage hotline 219-878-1745. NICTD apologizes
for any inconvenience.
