South Shore Line opening new station Friday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Shore Line will officially open the new Hammond Gateway Station on Oct. 18, the same day the old Hammond Station will be permanently closed.

"Beginning Oct. 18, passengers previously utilizing the Hammond Station will begin boarding and detraining all South Shore Line trains out of Hammond Gateway, located at 4530 Sheffield Ave," said Customer Service and Communications Manager of South Shore Line Amber Kettring.

“In the future, the Hammond Station parking lot on Hohman Ave. will begin to be utilized as an overflow lot for the Hammond Gateway Station. Updates will be sent as construction of the West Lake Corridor Project progresses.”

For those not familiar, the South Shore Line is a commuter train service operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District that runs between the South Bend International Airport and Milennium Station in downtown Chicago.

“We sincerely appreciate our passengers’ patience and cooperation through this stage of the West Lake project, said Michael Noland, President of South Shore Line. “We’ve hit a milestone in this project with the opening of Hammond Gateway and this puts us that much closer to the opening of the full line extension, to be named the South Shore Line Monon Corridor upon completion.”

The temporary bussing that has been in place is now done with the opening of the new station.