Day 53: For the Hoosier Commuter

     Chicago is a bustling metropolis, but a lot of people commute into the city for business or pleasure. Many of them drive, but others don't.  For those people, there are two man options: the CTA(if you're close enough) or Metra(if you're not).  One thing that I'm sure a lot of people forget is that there are also people who live in Indiana who commute into the city.  In fact, there are some portions of Indiana that are closer to the city than some of the further-away in-state suburbs.  But rest assured, there are transit options for the Hoosier commuters amongst us.  And not just that, but there have been methods for them to get into the city ever since the early 20th Century.

     The first foray into that kind of transit came in 1901 with the introduction of the Chicago & Inidana Air Line Railway.  Seven years later, it was extended, and in 1912 it was finally extended into downtown Chicago.  Eventually the railroad went bankrupt and was snapped up by Samuel Insull.  The line's electric runnings were retooled in 1926 in order to allow it to use the Randolph Street Terminal without having to change engines beforehand.  Also in 1926, the original line between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor was abandoned for good.  Interestingly, the railroad managed to make money during World War II because of how much Northern Indiana was dedicated to industry.

     Of course, as I already touched upon in the entry about Dearborn Station, the rise of the automobile quickly had a deleterious effect on the railroad industry, and the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad was no exception.  Eventually the line had to cut all services east of south Bend, which remains the eastern terminus of the line to this day.  In 1976, the CSS&SB filed to terminate its  passenger rail service.  However, unlike many of the other railroads of the day, that request was denied.

     Instead, the issue was brought up before the voters of Indiana, at which point the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District was formed the very next year to continue administering commuter rail to and from Chicago.  Eventually the old CSS&SB went bankrupt, and the passenger operation was put fully into the control of the NICTD.  Today the NICTD runs service from the South Bend Airport into Millennium Station, also stopping at Van Buren Street Station.  Additionally, the line shares its Chicago route with the Metra Electric Line.