South Shore South Bend Airport Reroute

https://wsbt.com/amp/news/local/proposa ... -modal-hub

Proposal moves South Shore to Union Station

An entirely different location is drawing new support as South Shore leaders discuss moving the current stop at South Bend International Airport.

There are talks of relocating South Bend International Airport’s South Shore station, but some want to see it moved to downtown South Bend.

The proposal being discussed would move the station from its current spot on the airport's east side over to the west side, making the trip quicker.
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“There's a lot of people that live in downtown that remember it as this bustling area, they've used Union Station in the past for passenger rail service and so there are a lot of people, it's not that big of a leap for them to understand how important it is to restore train service downtown, and what it means to really connect train service with bus service. Our main central bus terminal is just a block away so when you combine bus and rail, you get a true multi-modal transportation hub,” said Willow Wetherall, Executive Director for Downtown South Bend.
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Makes sense to me. I wonder how much ridership the current airport station gets? Especially since it can only capture riders from the west.

One thing I wanted to do after seeing they were side by side on my first trip on the Lake Shore Limited in 1992 was for my next trip to Chicago, leave town on the South Shore and go all the way to Bendix, and then catch the Lake Shore there to continue home. But by the time the chance arose, the South Shore had already moved to the airport terminal.

That didn't take long ...

NICTD is paying their experts to get a plan on paper (so to speak) so they can seek funding for the new AIRPORT station. Locals offering alternatives is what killed the reroute years ago. Locals offering alternatives nearly killed the improvements through Michigan City until the project became a part of the larger double track initiative.

I expect people to push for stations west of US 31 on US 20 (west of the interchange near the airport where a museum attraction is being built) or for a station combined with Amtrak (former terminus) or for the Union Station option noted here. Distractions from the plan to put the station on the other end of the airport terminal. Hopefully the distractions will not kill the project.

Downtown is the most expensive option and forces commuters downtown to board the train. The museum moves the station out of town and provides commuter access from US20/31. Bendix is the cheapest option but is in the worst place for commuters. I can't say that there are no flaws with the airport location but if support is divided there will be no improvement from the temporary airport station constructed years ago (and reconstructed years after that).

The only thing I like about the Union Station location is the potential to extend the South Shore further east through Mishawaka and Osceola to Elkhart. But that is so far off the charts that I would not want to see South Bend lose the best place for their station because of a promise that has near zero chance of being built.

Official project website ...
https://www.southshorelinesouthbendairportreroute.com/

When I rode a South Shore line train from South Bend to Chicago and then back to South Bend in October 2021, I stayed at the La Quinta hotel which is conveniently located just south of the airport.

Laurence