South Shore Line Airport Realignment is the name for a planned project which will see the South Shore Line passenger rail service move its main line's Indiana terminus from its current station on the east side of the South Bend International Airport to a new station at a location on the west side of the airport. The project will include the construction of new approach tracks. The project is expected to bring time savings, as the routing of the approach tracks to the existing station is circuitous, slow, and features many grade crossings.
When it was first opened in 1992, the current station on the airport's east side was originally intended to be a temporary location for the city's station. In 2006, officials began advancing plans to move the station to the airport's west side. In 2017, these plans again began gathering support. However, soon after, proposals for alternate locations for a station began to arise. A number of locations for a new replacement to its current terminus have been looked at, with a relocation to west side of the airport or a station in Downtown South Bend emerging as the top options. The option of moving the terminus to Downtown South Bend was championed by Pete Buttigieg during his tenure as mayor of South Bend. In late 2022, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), the operator of the South Shore Line, advanced plans to begin construction on a new station at the west side of the airport as early as late 2024, commissioning an engineering study to prepare for this. Even if it builds a new station on the west side of the airport, NICTD has not ruled out the possibility of also building a future connection to Downtown South Bend. By 2022, NICTD began progressing plans for a new station on the west side of the airport. While some debate on whether the community should instead pursue a downtown terminus persisted, by early 2025 the project for a new station on the airport's west side was nearing final approval.
Background South Bend International Airport station, the current South Shore Line terminus serving South Bend, Indiana, was opened at South Bend International Airport on November 20, 1992. The station's location on the east side of the airport was chosen due to the existence of a freight spur at that site, but this alignment was originally intended to be only temporary. The route that carries the South Shore Line to the station is considered slow and circuitous.
Poor track conditions on the approach to the existing further limits trains speeds, also lengthening travel times on all trains serving the terminus. Even though deteriorated track conditions have exacerbated speed limitations along the spur, these limitations have always been present. The first trains to serve the station when it opened in 1992 already ran slow along the spur due to concerns with the track's geography, as it ran parallel to a busy road (Bendix Drive), and had many level crossings with side streets as well as several crossings with high-traffic roadways (one with Lincoln Way West, and two with Bendix Drive). Due to slow speeds on the spur, when the station opened the scheduled running-times of South Shore Line trains into South Bend was extended by five minutes compared to the scheduled running-times of trains into the previous station.
Development of plans and exploration of alternatives Early plans to relocate the station to the west side of the airport
The idea of moving the station to the west side of the airport has been floated since the 1990s. Beginning in 2006, NICTD made it a listed priority to explore relocating the station to the west end of the airport. Such plans were priorized in hopes of decreasing travel times by as much as 10 minutes. By having South Shore Line trains approach the airport from the west, the traveling distance would be shortened. Additionally, such a route would decrease the number of at-grade crossings to as few as seven grade crossings, as opposed to the twenty-three grade crossings found in the current east approach to the airport. Plans exist by St. Joseph County to construct a rail spur to this area of the airport with the aim of also fostering the creation of an intermodal rail-air freight hub at the airport. An environmental analysis study was conducted in 2008. At the time of the publication of its May 2014 executive summary, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), the agency which runs the South Shore Line, estimated that this would cost $15 million. These initial plans to relocate the station to the airport's west side faced local opposition from residents of the Ardmore neighborhood of South Bend after it was proposed that the new tracks approaching a station there would travel through the neighborhood (in the area between Oak Road and Lexington Avenue) and displace as many as forty households there.
In 2017, South Bend's redevelopment commission voted to spend $25 million in tax increment financing funds to build a new station. This was part of a deal with St. Joseph County, in which the county would contribute $18 million to double-track the South Shore Line between Gary and Michigan City, while the city would contribute $25 million to pay for the relocation of the station to the airport's west side. South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg was supportive of the municipal expenditure for this project at the time.
Emergence of alternate proposals Locally preferred alternatives were presented to the original proposal to relocate the station. One was to instead build a new station on parking lots at Westmoor Street west of Bendix Drive (along existing South Shore Line tracks), located on property owned by the Honeywell Corporation. Concerns about this location, however, included citizens feeling it was not a safe area. There was also discussion of extending the South Shore Line into the city's downtown, though some saw it as likely to be cost-prohibitive. In September 2017, the South Bend Common Council unanimously passed a resolution urging that as many homes in Ardmore as possible be spared from being demolished by the proposed relocation project. A study was made producing an alternate plan which would take a different path. However this proposal too drew opposition from property owners whose land would be impacted.
In December 2017, the South Bend Chocolate Company publicly discussed the possibility of building a station at the location of their planned new factory and tourist destination. They had selected a site to the southwest of the U.S. 20 intersection of and St. Joseph Valley Parkways planned to build a new factory at, as well as two planned museums: the first a relocation of its existing chocolate museum (which was already receiving 50,000 visitors at its existing location) and the other being a planned "Indiana Dinosaur" Museum. In addition to this, the company was giving open consideration to building other attractions on the site, including a hotel, a winery, a restaurant, a bison farm, and hiking trails. It was argued that a station would enhance the venture's prospects of attracting tourists from Chicago and other areas in the region.
In August 2018, Buttigieg began to advocate for a new South Shore Line station to instead be located in South Bend's downtown. Buttigieg expressed hope that a downtown South Shore Line station could be completed by 2025. This marked a change from Buttigieg's past support for plans to relocate the station to the west side of the airport. Mike Noland, the president of NICTD expressed his belief that the west side of the airport was more easily attainable in the short-term than a downtown station. There had previously been talk in the 1980s, before the airport station was constructed, of having the South Shore Line stop at the Union Station in downtown South Bend, either instead of or in addition to stopping at the airport. It is likely that, if constructed, a downtown South Bend station would entirely supplant the existing airport station. A downtown station would likely be located near Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium and the Union Station Technology Center. It could be adjacent to, if not integrated into, the existing South Bend Transpo South Street Station. When it was built in 1998, South Street Station had been constructed with its passenger facilities near abutting train tracks with an eye towards a future passenger rail component. A study commissioned in 2018 on the feasibility of a downtown station envisioned a downtown station as being located directly between the Union Station Technology Center and Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium, replacing a segment of South Street.
While Buttigieg pushed for the community to look into the potential for a downtown station, he also conceded that it might ultimately prove to be too expensive of a project.
2018 study of possible locations
In 2018, Mayor Buttigieg ordered a study of five possible locations for a new station serving South Bend. The five locations being explored are the aforementioned west airport relocation, downtown station, and Honeywell Corporation sites, the site in the southwest quadrant of the U.S. 20 and U.S. 31 interchange that the South Bend Chocolate Factory tourist destination was planned for, and the existing South Bend Amtrak station. The study also explored the impact of retaining the existing station instead of constructing a new one. The report was published in April 2018. By August 2018, after the report's publication, both Buttigieg and NICTD president Mike Noland publicly declared their belief that the Honeywell Corporation site, chocolate factory site, and Amtrak site were eliminated from further consideration.
Approximate coordinates of considered sitesLocationCoordinates(links to map & photo sources)Current airport stationAmtrak stationChocolate factoryDowntownHoneywellWest side of airport
The study found that, indeed, any relocation would decrease the travel time, with the fastest train to Millennium Station if the existing station is retained being 115 minutes, whilst all other station options would have the fastest train to Millennium station be between 82 and 84 minutes. The fastest train from Millennium Station if the existing station is retained would be 118 minutes, whilst for all other options it would be between 90 and 92 minutes.
The costs to build each new station option were estimated by the study. A new west airport station was found to cost $29.5 million, a downtown station was found to cost $102.3 million, the Honeywell Corporation site was found to cost $23.9 million, the chocolate factory site was found to cost $44.3 million, and the Amtrak station was found to cost $31.7 million.
The potential ten-year economic impact of each station option was studied. Retaining the existing station could still generate $39 million in economic impact. The new west airport station could generate $83.8 million, a downtown station could generate $415.3 million, the Honeywell Corporation site could generate either $171.5 million (if mixed-use development is built around it) or $132 million (if industrial development is built around it), the chocolate factory site could generate $144.4 million, and the Amtrak station could generate $139.7 million.
Forecasted travel times and weekday ridership Station option Travel times Forecasted weekday ridership(year 2040) To Millennium station From Millennium station Current airport station 115–160 minutes 118–155 minutes Amtrak station 82–98 minutes 90–97 minutes 731 Chocolate factory 82–98 minutes 90–97 minutes 698 Downtown 84–100 minutes 92–99 minutes 735 Honeywell 82–98 minutes 90–97 minutes 729 West side of airport 84–100 minutes 92–99 minutes 727