South Shore Line's Double Track project celebrated by hundreds at Monday ribbon-cutting

The sun reflected brightly off a double-decker South Shore Line train Monday morning as it pulled into Miller Station, with Gov. Eric Holcomb giving a thumbs-up from the engineer’s seat to the hundreds on hand to celebrate completion of the South Shore’s Double Track project.

Holcomb was one of several elected officials on board the special train from Michigan City, with more awaiting its arrival in Miller, including U.S. Reps. Frank J. Mrvan and Rudy Yakym, U.S. Sen. Todd Young, Mayor Eddie Melton and a bevy of state legislators and other local elected officials.

Under a large tent pitched in the new station’s parking lot, South Shore Line President Michael Noland welcomed attendees to the morning’s "long-awaited" ribbon cutting ceremony.

"What an incredible day this is," he said. "Decades of dreaming, planning, engineering, two-and-a-half years of construction, and here we are, on the eve of new and vastly improved South Shore Line service."

Noland noted the project was "on time and under budget" before thanking the railroad Board of Trustees and staff, including project manager Nicole Barker, as well as the professional teams involved in the project and a variety of elected and appointed public officials whose support was necessary over the years of planning and construction.

Sherri Ziller, president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, which serves as the local financing agency for Double Track and the ongoing West Lake Corridor projects and is coordinating development along both routes, called Monday "a gratifying day."

"It’s fantastic to have something that you believed in, and you worked on and you fought for, for so long, actually come to pass," she said.

Ziller said the economic development the rail projects promote will make the investment worth the expense and years of effort.

"We already have over half a billion dollars worth of projects here in Northwest Indiana because of the expansion of commuter rail in Northwest Indiana, and there will be more to come," she said.

Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Michael Smith, also the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the South Shore Line's operator, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, credited project managers for dealing with the economic challenges of recent years "with costs the way that they are, with all of the challenges that were placed in front of us to start this project."

Monday’s remarks were largely given to sharing congratulations and thanks among the variety of people involved at local, state and federal levels.

Holcomb noted during his remarks that collaboration among officials, and a continuity in the commitment to the project when offices changed hands, showed how clearly the project was worth the effort.

"That continuity is so key to providing that certainty to attract more investment," Holcomb said. "That continuity breeds certainty, and that breeds investment."

The governor listed Double Track among the highlights of recent public projects in Indiana.

"We can do the biggest of things, like this project. And what will come from it is even more important than today," Holcomb said.

Young, a Republican senator who had invited then-Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to South Bend in 2017 to hear presentations on the project, noted the bipartisan effort at the federal level. He was one of several speakers to note the leadership of former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, a Democrat from Gary, in getting the project off the ground and into the federal funding pipeline.

Young said future generations will look back with pride on the effort undertaken by the project’s leaders.

"This will yield material benefits for this generation and future generations," he said.

Mrvan, a Democrat from Highland, said the project will help connect more people to employment, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities.

"We aren’t just celebrating a mode of transportation, we’re embracing a catalyst for economic growth and development," Mrvan said.

Yakym, a Republican from Granger and successor to the late U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, noted the improved travel times from South Bend the project makes possible.

"I can’t wait to see the levels of economic development that can take place in north central Indiana along this rail corridor as we all continue together to work to make Indiana a state that people want to live, work raise a family and do business in," he said.

Monday’s celebration was held five weeks after trains resumed running along the full length of the railroad, and the day before Tuesday’s expansion of the South Shore schedule.

The Double Track project — ultimately budgeted at $650 million but, Noland said Monday, coming in at around $600 million — added a second set of rails to single-track territory between Gary and Michigan City and installed new crossovers and bridges along the route. The project included a move of the railway from the middle of Michigan City's streets to a roadside right-of-way and the closure of 22 crossings in the city, with improvement to others. Double Track also includes construction of two stations — Miller and the new Michigan City station still in progress — and renovation and reconstruction of platforms at several others.

The schedule beginning Tuesday, available on mysouthshoreline.com, includes the addition of 14 weekday trains, reduced travel times and new, limited-stop express service. The new schedule provides 53 trains to and from Chicago.

The new limited-stop express train service will offer these travel times to Chicago:

• Gary (Miller) — 46 minutes

• Portage/Ogden Dunes — 51 minutes

• Dune Park — 57 minutes

• Michigan City — 67 minutes

• South Bend — 109 minutes