Southshore Express Trains

[justin_gram]

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Expr ... =phone&c=y

[justalurker66]

They have been talking about an express for years ... they had one on weekend, but not "under two hours".

I look forward to seeing the new schedule and how this improves the time on other trains. The South Shore schedule has been stable for a couple of years. It seems to be a good time to "shake things up" and make improvements.

[heypal6878]

The Chesterton rail line gets plenty of traffic. Seen two Amtrak trains on that line in recent weeks. Think they run twice a day on that line.

[justalurker66]

The Chesterton rail line gets plenty of traffic. Seen two Amtrak trains on that line in recent weeks. Think they run twice a day on that line.

Not the same line. Chesterton is NS with heavy freight and several Amtrak trains passing (not stopping) each day. The South Shore is an electric passenger rail system with over 30 trains per day. The line runs from Chicago to South Bend (90 miles including travel on Metra's tracks),

[heypal6878]

Got it!

[justalurker66]

The new schedules have been posted to http://nictd.com/
A quick read: (All times local to the named station. Effective March 16th.)

Mornings
Train 401 runs east at 3:30am instead of 4:10am to make equipment ready for the express
Train 6 is the new Express 6:00am South Bend, 5:56am Dune Park, 6:20am East Chicago, 6:55am Millennium (with stops at 57th and Van Buren)
Train 106 follows 6 with the stop at Dune Park removed
Train 108 will no longer stop at 11th St but will stop at Dune Park
Train 12 becomes Train 112 - Michigan City to Chicago
Train 112 becomes Train 114 - Michigan City to Chicago

Afternoon
Train 11 becomes the Eastbound express ... dropping all stops outside of Chicago -
3:57pm Millennium, 4:38pm East Chicago, 5:04pm Dune Park, 6:55pm South Bend (with stops at 57th, 11th and Van Buren)

Train 111 follows 11 and will no longer stop at East Chicago or Dune Park
Westbound Train 20 adjusted slightly to avoid conflicts

[justalurker66]

BTW: Several of the trains will be running the same schedule but have new numbers ---
As noted above, 112 becomes 114 (12 becoming 112 as it starts in Michigan City).
212 becomes 214, 214 becomes 216, 216 becomes 218, 218 becomes 220, 220 becomes 222.

The new 111 will follow 11's schedule (or 11 becomes 111 as it ends in Michigan City).
111 becomes 113, 113 becomes 115, 115 becomes 117, 215 becomes 217, 117 becomes 119, 119 becomes 121, 121 becomes 123.

Also -- Weekend Train 710 which has been suspended since December 6th due to platform problems in South Bend is not on the new schedule.