Michael Noland ’82 grew up visiting the University his father and uncle had attended in the 1950s. As a Notre Dame history major, he often rode the South Shore Line between South Bend and his family’s home in Chicago. Since 2014, he has led the agency that operates that line through major improvements as president of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District.
What was it like taking the South Shore Line in the 1970s?
When I would go to school, it would be common for me to take the train from Glen Ellyn into the Loop in Chicago and walk across to Randolph Street Station — it’s now Millennium Station. At the time, it was open air, and you’d walk out on the wooden platform and jump on one of the old 1920s-era, orange-and-maroon South Shore trains. We called it the “Shake, Rattle and Roll.” It cost $3.10 to ride from downtown Chicago to South Bend.
The station back then was basically in the middle of nowhere. I think I spent more on a cab ride from the South Bend station to campus than I did on the 90-mile train ride from Chicago. Today, the station’s at the airport — much safer and easier to get to — so it’s a much better connection for Notre Dame students now.
What is the Double Track project?
We had two-way traffic running on the railroad, but it was using one lane. So, when a train was going in one direction, no train from the opposite direction could run. In 2014, we started on a major project to put in a second track between Michigan City and Gary: a 26-mile stretch.
In February 2022, we started construction, and on May 14, 2024, we finished. That project allowed us to greatly reduce travel time to and from Chicago, add 14 trains every weekday and two round-trip trains on weekends, and improve on-time performance. Our average South Bend train used to be two hours and 40 minutes. Today, our best train runs in an hour and 50 minutes.
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District was created in 1977 to fund and then ultimately operate the South Shore Line. A goal almost since the beginning was to improve it, and the Double Track has always been part of that vision.
This was not just one person’s pet project — it was supported by the four county governments we operate in. So, we had all these elected officials, and then we had the credible backing of the University of Notre Dame and the Chambers of Commerce, and of businesses and the Realtors Association. Support from the public side and the private sector really made up the driving force that led to the local funding for the project, and then we had to go after the federal funding as well. The project budget was $650 million, and we brought the project in at $600 million, $50 million under budget.
What does the West Lake Corridor project entail?
The vision goes back to the mid- to late ’80s. The discussion was about how a commuter rail could better serve northwest Indiana’s growing populations.
Around 1989 or 1990, the CSX railroad was going to abandon a section of track from Munster up through North Hammond [the closest Indiana neighborhood to Chicago]. We jointly purchased that six-mile section with the idea that it could be developed into a commuter railroad. That was really the birth of the idea.
We’re nearly finished — probably 98 percent completed with construction, if not more — and we’re hoping to get into the phase where we can test and commission the line with our equipment, and then we’ll start revenue service [extending south from the current line to Dyer, Indiana]. The project cost $945 million, so there’s been a huge investment in infrastructure on the South Shore for these two projects and several others that are intended to really improve the connectivity between Chicago and Indiana. We hope to be able to open the line in mid-March or so. Being Irish, I think an opening on St. Patrick’s Day would be great.
Why is connectivity so important to Notre Dame and the region?
Jobs in Chicago generally pay more than a job in northern Indiana. The people who ride our trains go for higher-paying jobs and bring that money back to invest in our economy. Notre Dame has made supporting the Double Track project one of its goals. They’ve heard it loud and clear from students, faculty and staff: Connectivity to Chicago needs to be improved.
When we reach our goal of running South Shore service from South Bend to Chicago in 90 minutes, you connect the business communities in a much greater way, draw those economies together and support the region’s growth.
What obstacles did these projects face?
It takes time to get through a competitive federal grant process. You have to be prepared for setbacks, changes, speed bumps. You need to stay the course through engineering challenges, procurement issues, inflationary impacts, design changes, value-engineering requirements.
With two mega-infrastructure projects under our belt, the district and our project partners know what to expect and how to best navigate the federal grant application to achieve success. It is essential to have a large, broad-based coalition of supporters.
What’s next for the South Shore Line?
Really, two things are driving my priorities right now: finishing West Lake and getting the airport [station] relocated from the east side of the South Bend airport to the west side. The current project cost for the South Bend International Airport Relocation Project is $112 million. We anticipate receiving federal funding for this project through a competitive federal grant with a 50 percent local match from State of Indiana sources and 50 percent from the United States Department of Transportation. It’s probably a two-year construction project, and when we’re done, we’ll have trains getting close to that 90-minute mark from South Bend to Chicago.
We’ve finished engineering for the project, completed the environmental requirements, and now we’re preparing to apply for federal grants to match the local funding.
What about a downtown South Bend station?
There was strong support for a downtown South Bend station, and we’ve made it part of our strategic plan to support that in the future. Once we get to the west side of the airport, we’ll have the option someday to continue another three miles to downtown. The original location everyone looked at was right next to Four Winds Field. I’m a believer that someday, that could be a very viable station and greatly support the economy in South Bend.
Interview by Michelle Cuneo, an associate editor of this magazine. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.