This is a little ridiculous: 3 regional commuter train stations in 3 miles in Hammond, Indiana

A South Shore Line train enters the Hammond Gateway station in north Hammond, where passengers can transfer between the Lakeshore Corridor, the traditional east-west route, and the Monon Corridor, the long-awaited West Lake Corridor extending south to Dyer. Doug Ross photo, "Transit development districts already fulfilling promise to attract prosperity," Indiana Business Magazine.

I wrote recently about the extension of the South Shore Line to Hammond and Dyer ("South Shore Line Interurban extension in Indiana").  The South Shore Line is the last functioning interurban railroad in the US.  

It travels from South Bend (the airport, not downtown) to Chicago.  It has many trains each workday, 28 daily, and 28 total on weekends, but basically the ridership is abysmal: before the expansion post-covid it was fewer than 7,000 daily riders.   

Of course, if the Chicago Bears move to Hammond, that could perk up weekend ridership a lot.  Apparently Hammond is closer to a lot of Chicago than is the suburb of Arlington Heights, which the Bears are also considering.

Officials turn dirt at the ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday, April 16, 2026, for the new $10 million South Shore Line station to be built in downtown Hammond. (Doug Ross/for the Post-Tribune)

The Gary Post-Tribune reports, "Ground broken for new South Shore station to serve downtown Hammond," that the city is building a new downtown station for $10 million.

From the article:

“If we are serious about downtown Hammond, we have to have a station in downtown Hammond,” Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said. The station plays a key role in the city’s plans to revitalize the downtown.

“Not long ago, we stood together to celebrate the opening of the Monon Corridor, a transformational investment that expanded the South Shore Line and changed the trajectory of our region,” he said. “Today, we build on that momentum. Because this isn’t just another ribbon-cutting. This is proof that the investment is already delivering results.”

The new station will join two new stations that began service as a result of the $945 million Monon Corridor extension of South Shore Line service to Dyer. The Hammond Gateway station is a mile north of the new downtown station being built, and the Hammond South station is about two miles south.

Granted the downtown should always be served by a transit line, but this isn't a subway or streetcar, it's railroad.  So the number of added riders is likely to be minimal.  It's not like people are going to use the railroad passenger service to travel within Hammond.

Or perhaps they could consider closing one of the other stations.  Except they just built them.  Why didn't Downtown Hammond get a station from the start?

South Shore Line Interurban extension in Indiana

SSL en route in Michigan City on local surface streets.

This is notable because the South Shore Line, powered by electricity, is the only still functioning interurban train line in revenue service in the entire United States..  

As a mode, interurban was between heavy rail and train, with dedicated and mixed tracks and reasonably frequent cities operating within and between cities.  They carried passengers and local freight (not unlike todays package delivery services).

It was said transferring from one system to another you could get from Chicago to New England on interurbans.  Or from San Diego to Portland or Seattle.

Unlike heavy rail or railroad freight and passenger services, interurban lines could be street running within cities, like streetcars, and today's South Shore Line is distinguished in some places by still running on the street network in various communities along the line.  

Once owned by Samuel Insull, who owned many electricity generation and streetcar companies, like the CTA and London Underground, which he also controlled at one time, they were known for their poster marketing of sites on the line ("Moonlight in Duneland: Marketing the South Shore Line in the 1920s").

The DC area had such a system operating between Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis.

Today the South Shore Line operates between Downtown Chicago and South Bend, Indiana's Airport (originally the line went to downtown). Some trains go all the way from South Bend, while others start at either Michigan City or Gary. Like other similar services, for a time it had access to the Elevated track system of the Chicago Transit Authority.

These days it mostly serves Indiana, with 20 stations, and has a minute number of riders, less than 7,000 per day. But a goodly number of trains--26/27 go to or are from Chicago.

Starting today, the new "Monon Corridor" adds four stations with a terminus in Dyer, Indiana ("All Aboard! South Shore Line announces opening of new Monon Corridor expansion service," WSBT-TV).

But wow, what can they do to increase ridership? 

Certainly, an Indiana based Chicago Bears football team could generate some weekend ridership but only a few times per year.  

The South Bend Station no longer is in the center city, but on the outskirts.  While inconvenient, the location is probably not a deal breaker in terms of willingness to ride transit.  

What changes in marketing or otherwise would make a significant difference in ridership?