I recently attended the Midwest Rail Conference at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. While the conference itself was positively fascinating, today I’d like to focus on how I got there: By train.
I’d been thinking about taking the train since I registered for the conference, roughly two weeks before the opening reception. My desire to take the train increased when I checked rental car prices. The lowest I found was around $250 for the four days I’d need the car. That doesn’t count the cost of gas—likely two full tanks—or parking at the hotel, which charged $25 a night.
A bit dismayed, I went to Amtrak’s website to see what ticket prices looked like. At first, I expected to have to resign myself to renting a car, as both the Lake Shore Limited and Floridian, two long-distance Amtrak services that run concurrently over the Toledo to South Bend segment of track, were sold out.
Then, I thought about the idea of taking the train to Chicago, where I could then catch the South Shore Line, an interurban commuter train, to South Bend.
I looked up tickets on the Wolverine, before again receiving the refrain Sold Out. Not only is the Wolverine Michigan’s most popular service, but work to improve the tracks has limited the number of trains on the corridor, which has made sellouts more frequent on further out trains than you’d see typically (even outside of these circumstances, the Wolverine regularly sells every ticket). Fortunately, MDOT is currently embarking upon a study that will examine the improvements necessary to double frequencies on the Wolverine to 6 daily trips in each direction.
About to give up, I checked tickets on the Blue Water (which runs from Port Huron to Chicago). To my excitement, there were two tickets left, and I quickly booked my round trip departing from East Lansing, for $94. MDOT is also investigating doubling the frequency of the Blue Water and Pere Marquette (Grand Rapids to Chicago) lines; both would have two daily departures in each direction under plans submitted and accepted to the Corridor ID program.
When I was dropped off at East Lansing Station at around 8:10 in the morning last Tuesday, I was pretty surprised to see a crowd of around 50 people already massing into a loose line for the train. With time, the crowd would grow to around 100, perhaps slightly more. We all stood in the area of the platform, until about 15 minutes early, the train pulled into the station. Conductors assisted folks with finding the right doors, and helped with heavy luggage, strollers, etc. A Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers Station Host also provided assistance, answering questions and helping some folks onto the train.
The train was spacious and quite nice. We had the good fortune of riding in some of Amtrak’s new Siemens Venture coaches, with updated screens that display the next stop, ample legroom, multiple outlets, new bathrooms that are significantly more pleasant than the models in the older trainsets, and a smoother-feeling ride quality.
After waiting for about ten minutes until our scheduled departure time, the train took off toward Battle Creek, where the Blue Water converges with the Wolverine to share the Michigan Line, a stretch of track where trains reach 110mph frequently until they’re west of Porter, IN. The train was convenient and peaceful. I could open my laptop and get work done, something impossible while driving, while also enjoying the view out the window.
While the cafe car was busy for the entire ride, I was able to find some time to grab a coffee. The cafe is one area where our Amtrak Midwest services could do well to take a bit of inspiration from the Downeaster (which runs between Brunswick, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts), by offering more localized and substantial food options.
The 3 hour and 51 minute trip to Chicago breezed by. The views of picturesque rural development, shaped a hundred years ago by the very tracks you’re traveling along, are just as special as the stretches where the train runs alongside a highway and you get the thrill of speeding past cars.
After arriving at Chicago’s magnificent Union Station, I walked a few blocks from the station to grab some pizza. Luckily for me, it was more than good enough to make detouring around Lake Michigan worth it. After finishing lunch, I walked to Van Buren Station, where I’d catch the South Shore Line to South Bend.
Van Buren Station is in the middle of a major renovation project that will see the entire interior and platform areas modernized. I ended up getting lost in the construction until a friendly Metra worker found me and directed me to the platform waiting area.
I bought a ticket, for $15.75 one way, and waited for my train. The South Shore Line is one of the most interesting commuter rail lines in the country. At over 70 miles, it is one of the longest, and it is maintained and operated by the Northern Indiana Community Transportation District (NICTD), which has leveraged a combination of funding from the four counties it runs through, the State of Indiana, and Federal Transit Administration.
The ride was nice. There was a decent amount of overhead storage for luggage, and improvements that have double-tracked a large portion of the system and removed most of the street-running sections made for a very smooth journey.
I arrived in Michigan City, where I switched trains once more; in a twist of fate, the one I caught in Chicago wasn’t terminating in South Bend. While in Michigan City, I was able to check out their new train station, which opened in June of this year. The station is essentially a cutout of a parking structure, constructed to encourage park-n-ride usage and support a 208-unit apartment building that’s being constructed on top.
I then headed to South Bend, about 30 minutes away. Again, the scenery was quite captivating, including the charming town of Hudson Lake, one of the few rural commuter rail stations in the U.S.
It was late afternoon when we pulled into South Bend Airport Station, an intermodal transit center with an unmanned platform directly attached to the side of the airport terminal, directly adjacent to space for rideshare pickup and intercity and local buses. I grabbed my bag, got off the train, and called a ride to my hotel.
It was a phenomenal experience taking the train to South Bend, even if a bit roundabout. Seeing first-hand how much use people are getting out of our existing Blue Water service was a bit eye-opening, and it was great to pick up some concepts from these existing services that can be applied to the North+South Line. Next time you have to travel for work to somewhere with a train service, perhaps you should click over to amtrak.com and see if you can find a train that works for your trip.
Michael Goldman Brown, Jr. is Groundwork’s Transportation Specialist. michael.goldmanbrown@groundworkcenter.org
