West Lake Line

[justalurker66]

The first photo is from earlier this year at the Hammond Gateway station showing the north end of the elevated section as the track turns south (left side of photo). The forms are now off of the track supports.

This weekend in downtown Hammond from Sibley St where the track will cross the NS Chicago District.

Also from Sibley St (looking north) the tracks will descend on a curve to follow the old Monon alignment. Note the mounting point for the catenary support.

[justalurker66]

Fayette St is one block south of Sibley St. The track will transition to a viaduct. The first photo looks north, the second looks south.

Further south construction is underway at the South Hammond station. The parking lot behind the platform has been paved and construction has begun on the platform itself.

There is a considerable amount of the path that is ready for ballast and track as far south as Ridge Rd.

[~Z~]

A little google searching answered what I was going to ask - appears this is NICTD making an extension of their electric passenger trains to run south along the IN/IL border, going between Hammond and Dyer Indiana: http://www.nictdwestlake.com/map/

[Saturnalia]

A little google searching answered what I was going to ask - appears this is NICTD making an extension of their electric passenger trains to run south along the IN/IL border, going between Hammond and Dyer Indiana: http://www.nictdwestlake.com/map/

Correct. The project is also being built with future extensions in mind. This is a dense area with a lot of commuters to downtown with no existing mass transit service.

[justalurker66]

A little google searching answered what I was going to ask - appears this is NICTD making an extension of their electric passenger trains to run south along the IN/IL border, going between Hammond and Dyer Indiana: http://www.nictdwestlake.com/map/

Yep. Similar to the double track / Michigan City upgrades the work has been discussed for decades. It all seems to be falling together at the same time. Separating the track from the street in Michigan City has been combined with a project to add a second track from Gary to Michigan City ... that construction is being discussed and documented in another thread.

West Lake started out with the City of Munster buying the former Monon line through town with a desire to turn it in to a commuter rail corridor. NICTD did studies on expanding their service using this line including a line through Munster and Dyer to Lowell and a line through Munster to Valparaiso leveraging the Monon segment owned by the city. Both required additional ROW to connect to the end of the city owned Monon segment.

NICTD was able to get a ROW that runs next to the CSX former Monon track for about a mile and a half and ends at the city limits between Munster and Dyer (a half mile north of the Dyer Amtrak station). There will be no connection between CSX and NICTD and NICTD will pass over the CN line (Maynard CP) and industry siding at 45th Ave on a bridge. The additional 17.5 miles to Lowell remains a thought for the future.

The north end of the connection was an issue with discussions on whether to follow the former Michigan Central over to Kensington or take another western route or build a new bridge over the rails in downtown Hammond and connect to the historic South Shore line a mile to the north. The shorter path won (and is what is being built in the pictures above). West Lake will cross over several railroads in Hammond on bridges.

West Lake will be about eight miles of new track with two sidings (one in south Hammond and one in south Munster). The abandoned segment of the Monon line is about 5 1/2 miles of that 8 mile line. A yard will be built near the north end of the West Lake extension to maintain the trains serving the line.

Current plans are to run five peak trains from Munster/Dyer to Chicago with one reverse peak train. Six off peak trains will run as shuttles between Munster/Dyer and a new Hammond station west of the current station. All overhead electric powered trains using refurbished single level South Shore rolling stock. All 100% separated from other railroads and freight service. Service expected to begin in 2025.

I expect the next few decades will have discussions about extending to Lowell (requiring purchase of about 17 miles of ROW) and/or extending to Valparaiso (requiring purchase of about 24 miles of ROW if they follow CN from Maynard). Personally I'd rather see Valparaiso served by a NICTD train from Gary along the CSX/CFER line ... about 20 miles of ROW along a lightly used railroad. But that is an argument for the next generation.

[Saturnalia]

Fun fact: CP 73.8, just east of Kensington, was provisioned for West Lake to join the mainline there when they put in the new signal system, by pushing the westbound signals further to the east. Fun Easter egg.

I agree, getting to Valpo from Gary makes a lot more sense than from Munster. Better use of ROW opportunities and allows West Lake to continue southward, instead of abandoning that option by going east.

[justalurker66]

Fun fact: CP 73.8, just east of Kensington, was provisioned for West Lake to join the mainline there when they put in the new signal system, by pushing the westbound signals further to the east. Fun Easter egg.

That is interesting ... the former Michigan Central ran straight into Kensington (with the Kensington & Eastern connecting to the Michigan Central connection to the Illinois Central main line and "suburban service" tracks). The Illinois Central main line became CN, IC suburban service became Metra Electric District and the K&E is now NICTD / South Shore.

Joining the South Shore at CP 73.8 would save clearing the land abandoned by the Michigan Central. Although the CTA Red Line extension will be running along the South Shore down past 130th St when it is built. The one mile connection and yard at Hammond Gateway is a much better option.

I agree, getting to Valpo from Gary makes a lot more sense than from Munster. Better use of ROW opportunities and allows West Lake to continue southward, instead of abandoning that option by going east.

Just looking at all the railroads that would need to be crossed between Munster and Valparaiso is daunting. Railroad at grade crossings are a major problem and bridges are expensive. I am glad NICTD got the bridges in place for the West Lake Line.

There are a lot less railroad at grade issues on the route between Gary and Valparaiso. I believe the CFER ROW (former PRR) was at least double tracked historically so there should be room for a dedicated electrified railroad for NICTD. I'm not sure how busy freight service is on CFER ... the diamond is out at Toleston (Gary) and CSX does not seem interested in using the line north of Toleston (despite signaling work done from there north to I-80/90 a few years ago). In any case, building a line on the old PRR next to CFER should be easier than building one next to CN.

[Dan Cluley]

Has there been any talk about adding a station at 130th to connect to the proposed Red Line extension?

[Saturnalia]

Has there been any talk about adding a station at 130th to connect to the proposed Red Line extension?

Not really. There really wouldn't be a benefit to either line to have the connection. Now, if the CTA ever build a belt line, that say got you from 130th St to Midway or O'Hare faster than via downtown, then I could see it for sure.

[Saturnalia]

I agree, getting to Valpo from Gary makes a lot more sense than from Munster. Better use of ROW opportunities and allows West Lake to continue southward, instead of abandoning that option by going east. Just looking at all the railroads that would need to be crossed between Munster and Valparaiso is daunting. Railroad at grade crossings are a major problem and bridges are expensive. I am glad NICTD got the bridges in place for the West Lake Line.

For sure, being grade-separated makes the line more expensive to build, but will pay dividends by never being held up by freight, especially with many of those lines being fairly busy and full of long, slow freight trains. The IHB at State Line causes enough problems as it is on the existing route, with only a couple short trains daily.

One problem that happens annoyingly often is that the IHB at State Line, and to a lesser extent NS at Burnham, is when the NICTD dispatcher needs to contact the freight railroad for something, and have a hard time getting through, holding up movements on the South Shore. It'd be really nice if NICTD could assume total dispatch control over those two interlockings, but of course railroads tend to be bitter clingers to their interlocking control!

Amtrak in Michigan City tends to be hit or miss. Having only 8 trains helps, and the morning NICTD rush is over by the time any Amtrak trains are scheduled, but sometimes the Amtrak Train Director likes to take control and line up one of their trains when they're still way out, perhaps not even to Porter or Niles. I've seen SSL Trains get held for over 20 minutes waiting on the NS local before, too. Lots of times NICTD Trains will sit, when they could have been long gone before Amtrak got anything less than clear.

[justalurker66]

I finally got back to Hammond (and Munster) to take a look at the progress. All pictures from Hammond.

The viaduct through north Hammond south of Michigan Ave.

The bridge that will be placed over the IHB railroad is in the background.

The bridge over the NS Chicago District will have an angled end matching up to this angled support. The viaduct continues south.

[justalurker66]

The first section of viaduct placed over a road was at Sibley.

South of Sibley the viaduct is on enclosed fill. Shown here north of Fayette with the bridge that will cross Fayette.

South of Fayette the viaduct slopes down to ground level to a grade crossing at Douglas.

[justalurker66]

Heading south through Hammond ties are in place north and south of Conkey (picture taken looking south). Short sections of rails are next to the ties. The Monon trail will continue to run next to the new rail line (with portions rebuilt).

Near the South Hammond Station longer sections of rail line are on the new ROW.

Platform construction nearing completion at South Hammond (add roof, railings, glass and a railroad). The parking lot is complete to the east of the station behind the platform.

(It was raining heavily when I was in Munster ... not conducive to photography.)

[justalurker66]

Photos of the work being done at the new Hammond Gateway station:

The South Shore tracks will be relocated on the ground level on the stones. The West Lake corridor track will be on the embankment to the left. In the second photo the existing South Shore line can be seen to the right. In the third photo the black spot just right of center is a tunnel under the West Lake track connecting the parking to the new South Shore platforms.

[justalurker66]

The tracks are the CSX line through Hammond where the West Lake line will cross over.

The new substations are a different design than the brick buildings seen along the South Shore. This substation will serve the yard and the northern part of the West Lake corridor.

The rails will come back down to ground level just north of Douglas St

[justalurker66]

Update from the West Lake corridor ...

The new South Shore Line platform at Hammond Gateway is taking shape.

The bridge over Hohman and Michigan is being placed.

Just south of Michigan is the bridge over the NS Chicago District (and out of frame to the left, the bridge over the IHB).

[justalurker66]

The new rails have reached Fisher St in Munster. The Monon Trail is on the right of the barrier wall. Fisher St is the last road before the tracks go on to an elevated segment crossing the former Penn Central railroad and CN/CSX line headed south.

45th St is the first road south of the CN/CSX line. West Lake will stay elevated as it crosses over an industrial spur then goes back down to grade level for the approach to the Main St station. The CSX Monon line ends here with trains curving off to the left as part of Maynard Jct. West Lake is being built to the right.

The view from Dyer. West Lake will not reach this point, ending about a half mile north of the Dyer Amtrak station. But looking down the CSX Monon line one can see the crane at 45th St. The Main St station will be just beyond the CSX signal.

[justalurker66]

Michigan and Homan bridge all set! On to the next bridge.
(Traffic lights need to be re-installed.)