Timely performance for the South noise line is not where it should be, but it is getting closer.
“Our goal is to go to 90% on time, and this is the new program that we believe it is going to reach us,” said President and General Manager Michael Nolland.
For the week of 23 December, about 70% of the trains were at times more than only 30% for the week of May 13. Trains were within 10 minutes of more than 80% of the time within 10 minutes of their scheduled time. 23 compared to less than 50% in the week of 13 May.
“Our riders were not happy, this is the understanding of the century,” Noolland told 27 Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District meeting.
“We have really worked hard,” he said, to get closer to that goal. “We have attacked the problem.”
Contributing to better performance was a schedule change in August. When significant improvement started.
When the construction ended for the double-track project and the passenger service resumed, where the settlement took place, the schedule did not allow recovery time to delay any stations, Nolland said. It has been addressed.
Unlike several other passenger railroads, the South Noise Line is 90 miles long. 13 stations are connected to a delay of one or two minutes. If a passenger is on the wrong platform, it may delay a little.
Railroad is also running 53 trains in Chicago instead of 39. “This is a big, huge difference in service,” Noolland said.
“We have also hired a lot of new people who are absolutely new to the railroad. They are getting experienced, they are trained, they are getting better what they do, ”he said. “As we get more in it, I am excited to see what 2025 is going to bring, month in the month, not only in relation to ridership but also in relation to our on-time performance.”
He said that the railroad is doing a better job of addressing the morale of the riders. “We are doing a better job of communicating with our riders.” A new messaging system at platforms and stations updates passengers at the time of arrival, similar to the person used by CTA trains.
Nolland stated that arriving within 5 minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled time is the industry standard to measure timely performance. But most of the counterparts of the South noise line across the country have small routes. Nolland said, “We are an intercity railroad from South Bend or Michigan City to Chicago, then Commuter Service” from Closure Communities, Nolland said.
Some railroads have 95% performance on time, but “some of them have a huge amount of influence in their schedule. I don’t believe it,” he said. “I can give my customer the best product. ”
New South Shor Line Board Chairman Kent Abberanthi said that in the airline industry, sequence issues include reaching the right gate. Trains, however, use the same set of tracks. In Chicago, the South noise line uses metra tracks.
“If one of his trains overtakes us, it follows the leader,” Nolland said.
The railroad is working on a new 20-year strategic plan, now that projects are completed in its current plan.
It is also working towards connecting substations to fill the interval along the route, so if one of the substations is taken out of service, the service can resume quickly. Some of them are currently 10 miles separate, Nolland said.
The railway station at South Bend International Airport is a project moving from the east to the west which is coming fast. He said that after the opening of the new station, the railroad will help in performing timely performance.