EDITORIAL: Double-tracking plan nets key federal approval

At a proposed $210 million, the project would add a second track to a 25-mile stretch of railroad between Gary and Michigan City. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District officials, who operate the South Shore Line, believe the extra tracks are key to speeding, and thus shortening, train commute times between Northwest Indiana and Chicago.

The transit administration’s recent approval opens the door for the double-tracking proposal to receive up to 50 percent of its funding from federal sources.

If all goes as planned, double-tracking construction could begin by 2019 and be completed in 2020. In the big picture, that’s not very far off.

Northwest Indiana’s local, state and federal leaders must continue to push for this important project. Commuter railroad expansion is one of the important legs of a map to developing the Region for future generations.

We were disappointed earlier this year after learning the double-tracking project won’t receive any of the $126 million in Regional Cities Initiative economic development funds awarded to state projects this year.

But the new federal approval is grounds for celebration. The Regional Cities Initiative should take a long, hard look at this federal approval and put the double-tracking proposal at the top of its next list of state grant recipients.

There are obvious economic benefits of increasing access of Region residents to higher-paying Chicago jobs by creating a speedier, more efficient rail service.

Double-tracking would be an important way forward for our Region’s transportation infrastructure that would have ripple-effect benefits for the rest of the state. The Federal Transit Administration just removed a critical obstacle from the tracks.