By PAULENE POPARAD

Gas prices are headed up again and some believe they will hit $4 per gallon this summer. So will it affect ridership on the South Shore commuter railroad?

“The cost of gas ebbs and flows but it’s not going down. It’s amazing how (gasoline prices) correspond with our ridership,” marketing director John Parsons told the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District on Friday. “It gives some indication if we start creeping up to $4 a gallon. We may see that this summer.”

Parsons showed NICTD directors two 2005-2008 graphs charting the average monthly cost of gasoline compared to increased South Shore ridership to make his point. After the meeting Parsons was asked if the South Bend-to-Chicago commuter line can absorb more riders.

He said the railroad is down about 1,000 passengers to an average 13,500 daily riders so there is some room but during rush hour, it would require people to stand. Last year NICTD carried 4,245,922 passengers, the highest annual total since 1957.

Winter weather has affected current ridership, although it did post a year-to-date 2.1 percent increase including the extra leap-year day. Average weekend/holiday ridership through February is up 6.5 percent mirroring the 6.4 percent increase at the South Bend Regional Airport train terminal.

Off-peak commuting jumped 3.3 percent but average weekday ridership is down almost 1 percent with average peak ridership dipping by 2.5 percent. For last month alone, buoyed by strong Chicago Auto Show attendance the South Shore averaged 5,670 passengers per day on weekends or an increase of 17.7 percent over last February.

Parsons noted the Cubs home opener is today and the first of the Chicago summer festivals kicks off May 30; highest South Shore ridership historically occurs July, August and September.

New cars being built

NICTD general manager Gerald Hanas updated the board, comprised of representatives from Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, on the status of new double-decker railroad cars now being built in Japan. Each two-car train will have 268 flip-back seats or 62 more than the current rolling stock.

The first of the 14 new cars will be sent to Milwaukee this summer to begin final assembly there with delivery to NICTD to begin in late November. Testing will follow before the rest of the fleet arrives and is put into service. Hanas said NICTD hopes to add one rush-hour train each morning and evening and one off-peak train, however, snaking through the congested Kensington interlocking in Illinois continues to be a bottleneck.

“(Trains) are just about as close as they can get at that intersection right now,” said Hanas. Both Metra, the Illinois commuter rail, and a freight carrier share tracks there. NICTD is negotiating to build its own $10 million bypass track to help avoid delays the last 14 miles getting into Millenium Station at Randolph Street in downtown Chicago. Negotiations have been ongoing for two years over a construction agreement.

Union accord reached

In other business Friday, NICTD board members with Richard Vulpitta absent unanimously approved new four-year contract agreements with two of the largest labor unions at NICTD.

They are the United Transportation Union, which represents engineers, conductors and collectors, and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen division of the Transportation Communications International Union, representing terminal and shop carmen. Both unions represent approximately 76 members each employed by NICTD.

Both agreements provide for employee contributions each month to health insurance premiums paid by NICTD. The contract ratified by the UTU extends through Dec. 31, 2011 and calls for a 3.5 percent wage increase in 2008 and 3 percent increases in the remaining years.

The carmens’ agreement provides for the same increases except for a 3.25 percent increase in 2011. A $500 signing bonus in the first year is also a part of the contract. Car cleaners will receive a one-time increase of 74 cents per hour in the first year in lieu of the 3.5 percent wage increase.

Three NICTD construction contracts, all unanimous votes, also were awarded on staff recommendation, the first contract to replace the antiquated boiler system at the 1920s mechanical department building at the Michigan City yards.

With the two lowest bidders rejected as non-responsive, the $307,000 bid of Henry-CAP Construction Inc. of Mishawaka was accepted. The eight bids received ranged from $291,000 to $430,612. The engineer's estimate was $274,400.

The second contract was awarded at $237,000 to Balfour Beatty Rail, Inc. of Florida as the lone bid for track undercutting and ballast cleaning. Holland Company of Crete, IL got the $121,000 contract for in-track welding of joints for a seamless, better ride and to prevent cold-weather cracking; the low bid from Progress Rail Services Corp. of Alabama was deemed non-responsive.

Introduced to board members was Joseph Black, NICTD’s new chief operating officer. The position has been vacant since October. Black, previously of Philadelphia, will be responsible for all aspects of the South Shore's transportation, electrical and mechanical operations.

The publicly owned railroad, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year, operates electric rather than diesel trains. NICTD is in the midst of a massive modernization of its signal and overhead catenary power-distribution systems. “It’s never easy and we’ve tried to minimize the impact,” said Hanas.

Beginning this coming weekend, 12 weekend outages are planned prompting single-track operation in construction zones. Hanas said festival weekends will be avoided.

NICTD chairman Mark Yagelski of the LaPorte County Council congratulated South Shore employees in the mid-life train car rehabilitation department for marking 1,000 days without an accident.

Posted 3/31/2008