Dive Brief:
- The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District opened the West Lake Corridor project on March 31, an 8-mile branch of the South Shore rail line extending from Hammond to Dyer, Indiana.
- Trains along the branch line will operate through to Chicago during morning and evening rush hours, with shuttle trains connecting to Chicago-bound trains at Hammond during off-peak hours, evenings and weekends.
- The $945 million project included four new, accessible stations and a rail yard for train maintenance and storage.
Dive Insight:
The 2026 branch line connects to a passenger rail line that dates back over 100 years to the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad, an interurban electric railroad. It forms the backbone of today’s South Shore Line from South Bend, Indiana, to downtown Chicago. The West Lake branch is named the Monon Corridor in honor of a passenger and freight railroad that operated along the same right-of-way as early as 1884.
“Reviving long-lost passenger service on the historic Monon Corridor Line is the dream of many people coming true,” South Shore Line President Emeritus Michael Noland said in a statement.
The Federal Transit Administration provided a $354.6 million grant to help fund the project. Electric-powered trains will allow riders to bring their bikes aboard.
When combined with another project on the South Shore Line to add a second track to about 25 miles of single track, which was completed in 2024, the Monon Corridor is expected to bring approximately $2.7 billion in private investment to Northwest Indiana, creating over 6,000 new jobs and $5 billion in economic impact by 2048, according to a news release.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said that nearly $800 million in economic development is underway on both project corridors and estimates that “these projects will return $2 for every $1 of state investment.”
