July 26, 2024
Dear South Shore Line Riders,
At this coming Monday’s meeting of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Board (NICTD), we will present an update on our efforts to improve service since the completion of the Double Track project. This review will be comprehensive and will cover both improvements since May 14th and challenges that we continue to experience in delivering the service that we promised and that you should expect.
We will also ask the Board to approve a revised schedule that we anticipate will go into effect in the third week of August. My July 12th letter outlined some of the highlights of the new schedule, including:
- More strategic scheduling of train interconnections at Kensington Interlocking and at Millenium Station in Chicago to minimize South Shore Line trains having to follow Metra local trains (which can slow us down) as much as possible.
- Extra schedule time for a number of trains, especially in the weekday off-peak period, to account for the ongoing construction on the Metra Electric District corridor that is expected to last over the next 2-3 years as they upgrade their stations.
- Restoring the “D” stop provision to our timetable which allows certain trains, primarily our eastbound service from Chicago, to depart up to 4 minutes ahead of their scheduled departure time if we arrive at a station early. These “D” stops will be noted in the new timetable.
Immediately following the Board meeting, we will put the new schedule online for your review so that you can prepare for these changes. We will also continue to analyze and implement opportunities to improve our performance.
Again, we greatly appreciate your patience and continued support.
Best regards,
Michael Noland
President
South Shore Line/NICTD