I’ve just been told that plans are afoot to end street running in Michigan City, by means of diverting the existing route.
Can anyone tell me:-
1 - If this is true and if so
2 - When the street running is scheduled to end.
I’ve been meaning to revisit the CSSB for many years. Hopefully the rumour is’nt true, although I suppose if I was a Michigan City resident I would’nt be saying that.
I think you’ll probably be safe for a while. Those rumors have been flying around for a long time. The last time I heard it surface, they were debating whether the reroute would follow Amtrak and the old NKP right-of-way further north than the existing route, or follow the old C&O route to the south (how they’d connect to that at the west end is beyond me!).
Most of what I’ve heard about eliminating the street running involves using Amtrak’s routing with some connecting track at each end of town. It isn’t a high-priority issue because 10th and 11th Streets are not major thoroughfares and the rail traffic, while substantial, is overwhelmingly suburban trains with minimal freight service.
NICTD, the operator of the suburban service, is currently directing most of its planning efforts to revival of service to Valparaiso and service south on the former Monon main line.
Thanks folks. All being well I’ll be riding it again in September/October .