South Bend Airport station

Plans to move the South Shore Line station to the airport, creating an air, bus, and rail intermodal terminal, had dated back to the mid-1970s by the airport authority.[3][4][5][6] In fact, plans to move the South Shore Line station began to be formulated very shortly after the South Shore Line moved away from its stop in the city's downtown, which required street running, and into a newly constructed station.[6][7]

There was talk in the 1980s, for the South Shore Line to stop at the Union Station in downtown South Bend, either instead of or in addition to stopping at the airport.[8]

By 1989, the area surrounding the location of the South Bend's South Shore Line station that had been opened in the 1970s had come to be seen as an unsafe and isolated part of town.[9][10] At this point, discussions had been ongoing about relocating the station to the station to the airport for over a decade, but had been stalled by disagreement over the route that the train should take to get to the airport.[11] In 1989 the Venango River Corp., the parent company of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend, went bankrupt, and NICTD became the owner and operator of the South Shore Line.[7] Venango's owner was said to have supported moving the station to the airport, but was also said to have championed having it take a route that would run through the Ardmore neighborhood of South Bend, approaching the airport from its west.[7] In 1989, NICTD recommended moving the station to the airport, both to provide what they believed would be a safer station at a more appealing location, with a large amount of available parking.[10]

There was hope that moving the station to the airport would position passenger air service at the airport as an alternative for northwest Indiana residents (an area also served by the South Shore Line) to Chicago's airports Midway and O'Hare.[12]

The station was built at the end of what started out as Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad's freight spur.[13] The opening of a new station at the airport came on November 20, 1992.[6] Approximately 200 people attended the opening ceremony.[12] The new station cost $1.8 million, with NICTD paying approximately $1 million of the cost, and the rest being payed by the airport authority.[6] The station was originally an open platform, but, as was planned from its initial construction,[14] was later covered soon after with the construction of a new passenger terminal addition connected to the station. From its opening, the station has been accessible to those with disabilities.[15]

At the time of the opening, sources for NICTD claimed that the station made the airport only the second airport in the United States to be served by a by a commuter railroad.[6]

There is a possibility that the station may be relocated or replaced.

Since 2006,[16] plans had been made to explore relocating the station to the west end of the airport in order to potentially cut travel time along the South Shore Line by as much as 10 minutes by having trains approach the airport from the west with a shorter traveling distance and decreased number of at-grade crossings (as few as 7 grade crossings, as opposed to the 23 in the current east approach to the airport).[17][18][19][20][21] Plans to construct a rail spur to this area of the airport exist with the aim of also fostering the creation of an intermodal rail-air freight hub at the airport.[17][18] The current route that carries the South Shore Line to its existing station is considered slow and circuitous.[22] As of 2013, this had been originally estimated to cost $15 million.[19][23] This plan has faced local opposition from residents of the Ardmore neighborhood of South Bend, which the new tracks would travel through and displace as many as forty households.[24] Locally preferred alternatives have been presented to this plan, including one in which a new station would instead be located on Honeywell Corporation property at Westmoor Street west of Bendix Drive (along existing South Shore Line tracks).[24][20] In 2017, South Bend's redevelopment commission voted to spend $25 million in tax increment financing funds to build a new station.[16]

A downtown station could be located adjacent to, if not integrated into, the existing South Bend Transpo South Street Station

Beginning in August 2018, then-incumbent South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg advocated to locate a new South Shore Line station in South Bend's downtown.[17][25] Such a station would be located near Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium and the Union Station Technology Center.[17][20] It could be adjacent to, if not integrated into, the existing South Bend Transpo South Street Station.[26] When it was built in 1998, South Street Station had been constructed with its passenger facilities near abutting train tracks with an eye towards a future passenger rail component.[27] Buttigieg expressed hope that a downtown South Shore Line station could be completed by 2025.[18][25] It is likely that, if constructed, a downtown South Bend station would supplant the existing airport station.[18] NICTD president Mike Nolan expressed that the west side of the airport was more easily attainable in the short-term than a downtown station.[28]

The existing South Bend Amtrak station (previously used by the South Shore Line before its current station was built) was studied as a potential site for the station's relocation

In 2018, Mayor Buttigieg ordered a study of five possible locations for a new station serving South Bend.[24] The five locations being explored are the aforementioned west airport relocation, downtown station, and Honeywell Corporation sites as well a site in the southwest quadrant of the U.S. 20 and U.S. 31 interchange which is also the location of a proposed South Bend Chocolate Factory tourist destination, and the existing South Bend Amtrak station.[20][29] The study also explored the impact of retaining the existing station instead of constructing a new one.[29] The report was published in April 2018.[20]

The study found that, indeed, any relocation would decrease the travel time, with the fastest train to Millennium Station if the existing station is retained being 115 minutes, whilst all other station options would have the fastest train to Millennium station be between 82 and 84 minutes.[29] The fastest train from Millennium Station if the existing station is retained will be 118 minutes, whilst for all other options it would be between 90 and 92 minutes.[29]

The costs to build each new station option were estimated by the study. A new west airport station was found to cost $29.5 million, a downtown station was found to cost $102.3 million, the Honeywell Corporation site was found to cost $23.9 million, the chocolate factory site was found to cost $44.3 million, and the Amtrak station was found to cost $31.7 million.[29]

The potential ten-year economic impact of each station option was studied. Retaining the existing station could still generate $39 million in economic impact. The new west airport station could generate $83.8 million, a downtown station could generate $415.3 million, the Honeywell Corporation site could generate either $171.5 million (if mixed-use development is built around it) or $132 million (if industrial development is built around it), the chocolate factory site could generate $144.4 million, and the Amtrak station could generate $139.7 million.[29]

By August 2018, both Buttigieg and NICTD president Mike Noland had publicly declared their belief that the Honeywell Corporation site, chocolate factory site, and Amtrak site were eliminated from further consideration.[16]

In December 2018, an engineering study was commissioned to further examine the cost of a downtown station.[25]

In their 2019 capital plan, NICTD set aside $30 million for a relocation of the station and track realignment.[30]

A decision regarding the future of South Bend's South Shore Line station was originally anticipated to be made at some point in 2020.[31]

• Media related to South Bend Airport train station at Wikimedia Commons
• South Shore Line - Stations
• South Bend Regional Airport