The South Shore Line is looking to secure local funding for a shorter route to South Bend International Airport.
Currently, trains from Chicago head slightly past the airport and then circle back to approach the terminal from the east. A more direct route is estimated to cost $112 million.
Earlier this year, the state of Indiana committed $28 million, despite a very competitive budget cycle. The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District itself has committed $6 million.
“We’ve got some commitments from some private-sector entities, which is really unheard-of for a public works project, but the private sector sees real value in this, so they’ve stepped up,” NICTD President Mike Noland told the NICTD Board on Monday.
The railroad is working with St. Joseph County and the city of South Bend to secure the rest of the money needed to match a potential $56 million federal grant.
“It would be very important, I think, from the project’s standpoint, that we have our local funding put in place and be able to say we’ve got our environmental [assessment] and we’ve got our local funding ready, so our grant application’s as strong as it possibly can be,” Noland said.
He expects the next round of federal funding applications to be available sometime this fall.
Noland said the railroad is finalizing the project’s environmental assessment. Proposed updates are being reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
He told board members that NICTD tried applying for federal grants in December and January, knowing that the environmental assessment and local funding commitments weren’t complete.
While those applications were denied, Noland said they helped make the federal government aware of the project and could help NICTD improve its next application.
