New Carlisle could get South Shore train station

NEW CARLISLE, Ind.-- A South Shore Line station could be coming to New Carlisle. 

The New Carlisle Town Council approved the plan 4-to-1 last week, and this week, the St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission voted unanimously to approve a change order and right-of-entry agreement to further survey the site.

ABC57's Annie Kate sat down with Bill Schalliol, the economic development director for St. Joseph County. 

He said the New Carlisle station was proposed by South Shore several years back, when they were first planning their double-track. The South Shore is looking to close its Hudson Lake station, which Schalliol says is antiquated, and replace it with a New Carlisle station just about four miles away, and conveniently located closer to all the incoming development to the area. 

"Overwhelmingly, people wanted the station close to downtown, they wanted to be safe, and they wanted to find ways that it could be walkable from the town to the station and the station to the town," Schalliol said. 

It's unclear what kind of an investment this would be at this time, both from the county and South Shore; they have yet to apply for grants or estimate costs. 

New Carlisle had a train station in town that closed in the '80s, but now it may get another because of the level of growth the area is seeing.

Schalliol says a lot more workers will be commuting to New Carlisle, and this would give folks coming from South Bend and Michigan City, for example, an alternate commute option. 

"Still a lot of work to do, we still have to come up with a facility design, kind of a layout, parking, all those kinds of things," he said. "So it's not going to happen immediately, but it's kind of moving forward, moving the ball forward."