The double-track project along the South Shoreline is underway

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind - The $650 million double-track project along the South Shoreline is underway.

This project is adding an almost 18-mile second track between Michigan City and Gary, Indiana.

Construction from Michigan City to Dune Park is nearly complete with the project on track to finish by May 2024.

“It's going to be faster than driving into Chicago, so it's great, it's really good,” said Dan Meyer, a Michigan City resident. 

Commuters in Michigan City like Dan Meyer have waited on the South Shore line double-track project since it started February of last year.

Now, the second track to speed up the route may be running in less than a year.

The president of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, Michael Noland said work should allow the South Shore Line to add 14 weekday trains a day.

“Well, we'd be significantly reducing the time to and from Chicago and our on-time performance is going to greatly improve,” said Noland.

The double-track will significantly reduce travel time on the 90-mile route from South Bend to Chicago.

“Right now, it's about two and a half hours to and from South Bend, we're going to get it just around two hours for our regular trains and our fastest trains will be able to do it in about an hour and 45 minutes with this project,” said Noland. 

Long term, NICTD aims to cut the commute down to 90 minutes.

“I've taken it a bunch of times, and now this will make it about an hour and five minutes, in fact, I just drove there a couple days ago with a friend, and it took us about an hour and 45 minutes/50 minutes just to drive there, so it's going to be faster than driving,” said Meyer.

Despite construction, the South Shoreline is still operating with shuttle buses covering the route to Gary.