As you might know, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) finished a major multi-year $650-million double-tracking project about half a year ago. Currently, the NICTD has only one line – the South Shore line (or the Lakefront Corridor as they started referring to it recently) – although a second line is under construction and should be finished some time in 2026. Historically, the South Shore line has had four distinct segments with different infrastructure and correspondingly different service levels, decreasing from west to east (from Chicago to South Bend):
1. Chicago Millennium station – Kensington (quadro-track segment shared with the Metra Electric District line; right-hand running)
2. Kensington – Gary (double-track; also right-hand running)
3. Gary – Michigan City (used to be single-track with several passing sidings)
4. Michigan City – South Bend Airport (single-track with only two sidings)
The segment that has been double-tracked by this program is the formerly single-track segment between Gary and Michigan City. As a result, the line is now fully double-track from the junction with Metra Electric at Kensington to the 11th Street station in Michigan City (in fact, to a point slightly east of that station, CP 33).
Now, what can go wrong with double-tracking? Indeed, double-tracking is, in general, a very positive development that increases the rail line's capacity, allows more service, and enhances both reliability and on-time performance. Or so I thought when I decided to make several trips to Indiana and explore the rebuilt infrastructure. Luckily, the South Shore line is relatively close to Ann Arbor, and I was able to make four one-day trips to Indiana this fall, some on weekends and some on weekdays (as I did not have to teach during our Fall Break). I visited all five rebuilt stations, and I made three complete roundtrips over the newly double-tracked segment by train. I really wanted to like the improvements, and I was coming to Indiana with a very positive outlook.
And some improvements are indeed positive. The rebuilt stations are nice. The construction quality is reasonably good. Most new high-level platforms are long (8 cars) and have a nice surface texture preventing slipping. Aesthetically, many elements are pleasant and likable, although not extraordinary. They have also slightly increased service levels east of Gary on weekdays (but are still running only 9 roundtrips a day on weekends). I might post some pictures later on, but here is a track map of the rebuilt segment that I drew as a result of my extensive exploration. Station names on this map are:
GMC = Gary Metro Center
M = Miller
P/OD = Portage/Ogden Dunes
DP = Dune Park
BS = Beverly Shores
11th = 11th Street (Michigan City)
CA = Carroll Avenue (Michigan City)
So, why do I say that things got worse as a result? Ultimately, most problems I describe below can be traced to one singular very poor design decision at the project's planning and engineering stage. Namely, at two out of the five rebuilt stations (Portage/Ogden Dunes and Dune Park), they built high-level platforms on only one track. Moreover, they built them on the southern track, which would have been an eastbound (outbound) track for normal right-hand operations. The platforms on the northern (westbound/inbound) track are still low at these two stations.
However, it is clear – and someone at the NICTD understands this – that high-level platforms are more important for boarding than for alighting. Climbing up is harder than descending for most people. So, the way the NICTD now runs their trains is by routing westbound (inbound) trains to the "wrong" track at these two stations in order to serve the high-level platforms. In essence, they try to operate the segment through Portage/Ogden Dunes and Dune Park as a single-track segment with all trains serving the high-level platforms on the southern track.
The problem is that this does not work well – or at all. Even during off-peak hours or on weekends, the effectively single-track segment is an operational bottleneck. But during rush hours it is simply impossible to operate both inbound and outbound traffic on this single track reliably. So, what does the NICTD do? Well, they did not come up with any better ideas but to run trains on the left-hand side through this area.
Normally, most double-track lines in the U.S. and in the world are operated with a fixed track assignment: trains run on one track in one direction, and trains in the opposite direction run on the other track. Exceptions are hard to find. Now, on the South Shore line, the western end of the line in Chicago is right-hand operated. The NICTD cannot change it, because it is owned and run by Metra, and Metra's operation on their entire line is exclusively on the right-hand side (which makes perfectly logical sense for Metra). Yet a segment further east is left-hand operated by the NICTD during busiest hours. In essence, this creates conflicting moves for each and every train on the South Shore line. Moreover, it creates these conflicting moves twice, since the NICTD operates the newly double-tracked segment through Michigan City on the right-hand side as well. Just think about it: you get a left-hand operated segment sandwiched between two right-hand operated ones! You get conflicts on both sides of the left-hand operated segment, with every single train having to switch tracks twice per trip.
What are the consequences of this "slalom"? First of all, the on-time performance is absolutely the worst in several decades. Most trains are delayed 10-15-20 minutes, and some are delayed severely. One of the trains I rode on October 26 was delayed by an hour. Again, think about it: a commuter train with the entire route well under 90 minutes is delayed by an hour! This is not a transcontinental multiday trip on Amtrak – this is a commuter operation – and such delays are totally unacceptable for such a time-sensitive operation.
Moreover, most of their trains I took are severely crowded, even on weekends, and they cannot add more trains because of these conflicting moves twice per each trip restricting their ability to add more trips. While many modern double-track lines can accommodate over a hundred roundtrips a day, the NICTD is struggling with pitiful two dozen (in fact, even fewer than two dozen). And all of that is because they saved probably 1% or 2% of the project budget on these two platforms on the northern track...
The negative consequences do not end here. Trains switch from one track to the other at seemingly random locations, and these locations vary day by day. It feels like their dispatchers are improvising every time instead of following a predetermined operational plan. So, even the exact same train may be arriving at the exact same station on a different track. At the same time, there is no real-time information for passengers at any of the rebuilt stations. Passengers are not informed at all on which track the next train will arrive. Even though they have these numerous expensive electronic signs, they only display scheduled information, not the real-time one, and they don't have any information whatsoever on which track the next train is running on. There are no permanent signs and no audio announcements either. As a result, passengers are frantically running back and forth from platform to platform without any understanding as to where to expect their train (and when to expect it). Over the four days that I spent exploring this line, I was asked at least three times "At which platform do you think the next train to Chicago is going to stop?" And of course, every rebuilt station has separate platforms on each track – another poor design decision, – and you have to cross at least one track in order to get from one platform to the other (see the track diagram for the platform layout at each station). So, instead of improving things for passengers (who used to have only one platform to wait on without any ambiguity), double-tracking has made it worse for them.
I have seen probably a hundred commuter-rail operations all over the U.S. and in 30 other countries, and I can declare with absolute certainty that right now the South Shore line is the most hectic, disorganized, and unpredictable commuter rail operation that I have ever seen anywhere in the world. The NICTD's response? It's all leaves! No, it is not the incompetence of whatever consulting company they used to design the "one-sided" stations, nor the incompetence of their managers or dispatchers, no, it's all just leaves. And of course, it is the very first autumn in over a century, and leaves have not fallen on their tracks ever before, so they have never encountered such an amazingly rare event in their entire lives, and they have no idea whatsoever how to deal with it! :-) "Pathetic" does not even begin to describe it...
And this is not the end of this story. Unfortunately, design and engineering deficiencies are not limited to the two "one-sided" stations. The rebuilt 11th Street station has two high-level platforms (which is a good thing), but only one of them is long enough for 8-car trains, and the other one can only fit 4 cars. In essence, they now have to route long trains to only one platform on only one track. Why? There was enough space to build the second full-length platform. Why would you intentionally handicap your operations in such a silly way? Who on earth makes such poor design decisions? Moreover, the full-length 8-car platform is on the northern track at this station. It means that if they route all long inbound trains to a high-level platform at each station, they have to operate on the right side through Michigan City (as they do now), and hence they have to switch between the two main tracks at least twice (first between Michigan City and Dune Park and then again between Portage/Ogden Dunes and Kensington). In essence, the "slalom" is forced by the newly built infrastructure.
Another example: The new Miller station has two full-length high-level platforms, but the two stub tracks for short turns and train storage are connected to only one main track and hence can serve only one boarding platform (and only one stub track is electrified). It means that all short turns can only use one track at Miller, during all hours of operation, which, in its turn, means that most through trains have to use the other track at Miller, in both directions at all times, and hence one cannot assign well defined time periods of right-hand running and left-hand running through Miller. Each and every one of these poor design decisions results in operational constraints and inefficiencies, with trains constantly needing to switch from one track to the other unnecessarily.
As you can see, the newly built infrastructure imposes a lot of limitations, and these are mostly self-inflicted limitations resulting from horrible decisions made during this double-tracking project. These infrastructure constraints cannot be easily fixed or undone by competent scheduling.
It seems that their cost-cutting was very severe, and it is seen everywhere. All electrification poles used on the newly double-tracked segment are made of wood, and only wooden cross-ties are employed everywhere on the newly laid track. No sane person would use wood for such items in the 21st century. If you look around, concrete for ties and metal for poles are the materials of the day. Wood does not last long and needs to be replaced far too soon. In essence, the NICTD insists on building a 19th-century railroad in the 21st century. At the same time, in the visually nice Miller station the seats are hard and made of metal. No cushions. Apparently they think that commuter rail passengers do not deserve cushioned seats, unlike airport passengers. I would invite the NICTD's CEO to spend an hour waiting for their delayed train on one of such metal seats and then share his experience.
Now, how can they fix this mess? For one thing, the NICTD needs to build second full-length high-level platforms at Portage/Ogden Dunes and Dune Park to restore consistent right-hand operations throughout the entire line. This will help with both on-time performance (as all conflicting moves will be eliminated) and passenger information (as they will now be able to place permanent signs "inbound" and "outbound" on each platform). Again, this is how most double-track lines in the world are operated: one track in one direction, and the other track in the other direction, – and this line should not be an exception. It should be possible to apply for grants and receive such grants relatively easily, as it is straightforward to understand why such "one-sided" stations are an operational nightmare.
In the short term, they need to hire a software engineer and make sure that real-time information is displayed on those electronic signs at stations, both the arrival time and the arrival track, so that passengers stop running back and forth between platforms across active tracks.
Moreover, the NICTD needs to stop and rethink the second line they are building right now. I am sure there are similarly poor decisions made for this line as well. I am aware of at least one: They decided not to electrify a short segment of that line. Instead, they will buy much more expensive rolling stock that can operate both from electricity and from diesel. Why on earth would one want the incompatible rolling stock for their two lines? Who needs a zoo with different maintenance needs and incompatible maintenance practices? It is both cheaper and more efficient in the long run to simply electrify this short segment and use the same rolling stock of EMUs throughout their entire system. The unparalleled genius of the NICTD decision makers does not stop at bad decisions – they seem to pursue the absolutely worst ones!
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