With NICTD/South Shore Line building the West Lake Corridor out to Dyer (opening 2025), has there been any talk of rerouting the Cardinal (and a potentially resurrected Hoosier State) on the new route? Oddly, the last stop on the line is at Dyer/Main Street, a half mile north of the Amtrak station.
Presently, Amtrak is scheduled for an hour and a half run between Dyer and Chicago Union Station, a distance of only 29 rail miles (only 59 minutes westbound). NICTD proposes a running time of 38 to 46 minutes from Munster/Dyer Main Street to Millennium Station.
Amtrak would need to back in to Union Station, just like the CONO and Illini/Saluki. Obviously, Amtrak would need to gain permission from NICTD to operate on their line, but considering how much Feddy bucks are going into the project (FTA but not FRA), I'm surprised there's no quid pro quo. The FEIS states " The FEIS Preferred Alternative would not affect the current service provided by Amtrak nor preclude future Amtrak service use." (3.2.4.1)
At present, CREATE Project P2 is supposed to untangle Belt Junction and speed up Cardinal Service as well as reroute Metra SouthWest Service to ex-Rock Island tracks and LaSalle Street Station. Once SouthWest Service trains are removed from the NS Chicago Line, the freed up slots will allow Project P4 to construct a flyover from the ex-IC to the NS line at Grand Crossing to eliminate backup moves into Union Station. Obviously, P4 would benefit the Cardinal if it used the West Lake Extension and could also benefit even without, as there have been some historical proposals to reroute the Cardinal on to the ex-IC near Harvey Station.