The Last Interurban Train in the US is EXPANDING

The last interurban train line in the United States is about to EXPAND, but there’s some weird stuff we need to talk about. In this video, we discuss: A brief history of how the South Shore Line survived the auto age and managed to become the last true interurban in the US What exactly are interurbans, and what makes the SSL an interurban to this day? Details about the relationship between the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) and South Shore Freight, including how it could impact passenger service Some of the other initiatives the SSL is working on/has recently completed, including the Double Track Northwest Indiana Project from Michigan City to Gary and the South Bend Airport Reroute Project The characteristics and construction, engineering, and planning details of the new Monon Corridor The Monon Corridor and South Shore Line’s access to a potential Chicago Bears stadium in Northwest Indiana The downsides of the Monon Corridor, including its limited schedule and a lack of a station in the walkable and transit-rich area of downtown Hammond And more! The line in question, the South Shore Line, is an electrified rail line between Chicago, Illinois and South Bend, Indiana, and on March 31st it will open its new branch line to Dyer, Indiana, dubbed the Monon Corridor (originally called the West Lake Corridor). This is, of course, super exciting. It’s not everyday you see completely new rail tracks and stations, and with CATENARY, at that! This expansion amounts to the largest new construction of rail in the Chicagoland area since the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)’s Orange Line opened in 1993. The line has some quirks, though. For starters, its service will be heavily 9-5 commuter oriented, and only 12 trains per day will actually go all the way from Millennium Station in downtown Chicago to the Monon Corridor stations. The rest of the time, you’ll get shuttle trains between Munster/Dyer and Hammond Gateway, and some of those timed transfers are as long as 48 minutes, and none of them are consistent. This $945 billion project (that’s a 2019 cost estimate, so the total likely has gone above that) isn’t really doing all that it could, at least not yet. In the future, I’d recommend that the NICTD work to reconfigure its schedules to a more clock-faced model, similar to Metra, with trains arriving at the same predictable times every hour. This will help them offer more consistent transfer times to the new Monon Corridor. The SSL shares tracks with South Shore Freight, which is dispatched by the NICTD and the two purportedly maintain a good working relationship, so in theory it shouldn’t be that hard for them to get the schedules smoothed out! Regardless of all the weird stuff about it, I can’t wait to ride the line when it opens in a few days. I’ll have a bonus video for Patreon patrons and channel members here on YouTube the day it opens. If you don’t want to miss that, become a paid member today! Your support really helps make these videos better. Support the channel on Patreon: Patreon: CarFreeKeith Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:09 What are Interurbans? 01:52 History of the South Shore Line 02:58 Freight Traffic Overview 03:48 The South Shore Line's Glow Up 05:29 Monon Corridor Overview 06:11 History of the Alignment 07:51 Service Development & Details 11:03 Potential Bears Stadium Connections 12:04 The Weird Stuff 15:13 No Downtown Hammond Station? 16:18 Closing Thoughts 17:22 End Credits #SouthShoreLine #InterurbanRail #MononCorridor #ElectricTrains #RailHistory #chicago #CommuterRail #PublicTransit #RailwayExpansion #Indiana #TrainTravel #TransitInfrastructure #RailsWithTrails #HistoricTrains #RailFans