Transformers temporarily derail West Lake Corridor service

The transformer project of the West Lake lake corridor to manage passenger trains on the southern shore line between Dyer and Hammond was delayed by certain damaged transformers during an electric storm.

After the storm in mid-August, one of the transformers underwent serious damage and another in Hammond, also showed damage.

The president and director general of the Northern Indiana Commuter transport district, Michael Noland, said on the NICTD board of directors on Monday that the service will not start on this new rail line as long as the cause of these damage has not been determined and can be resolved.

Previously, Noland had hoped that the service could start at the end of the year or shortly after.

“We are not going to strike in early January. The best scenario, we are watching mid-January, at the end of January,” he said. “It could be several months after that.”

“We are not going to open this line unless we know that we have a fully functional, valid and tested system,” he said.

“Transformers are across the country. It is not exotic equipment,” said Noland. But the design of the transformer is different from what the railway has been using for decades, so the spare transformer to Michigan City is not a plug-and-play alternative to those damaged on the new road.

“We are all trying to understand why these damage took place,” said Noland. If this happened once, it could reproduce unless the cause is determined and treated. Better to face it now than before the start of the service and the runners are embarrassed.

Local experts of the railway and various companies have traveled the transformers to try to understand why they are damaged, and now the transformers are shipped to the manufacturer for a more in -depth analysis.

Noland compared the situation to Apollo 13, when everyone worked together to find a way to bring astronauts safely to earth after an oxygen tank in the service module exploded.

Transformers, such as firefighters and ambulances, have a long time before the delivery of the finished product. However, Noland expects the South Shore Line’s transformers jumping forward from the production line instead of being treated as a new order.

If there is a good side to this new problem, it is that the West Lake Corridor project is a design-construction project. “The financial risk does not concern us. This must be fixed by the entrepreneur,” Noland told the board of directors.

FH Paschen and Ragnar Benson, both based in Chicago, are working on this major project, which costs more than $ 850 million.

If it is a simple solution, the delay will not be as long as it would be if the transformers should be completely redesigned.

It was not the first hiccup that delayed the project. Initially, Noland hoped that the service would begin in the middle of this year. Then, it was postponed until October due to a delay in the construction of an underground passage in Munster. Then, it was moved at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year, because wandering tension was to be covered.

The passenger service does not start as long as the railway line is not tested and training for trained employees, said Noland.

Even if the problem of the transformer is not resolved, the railway does what it can prepare for the opening day so that the service can start as soon as possible, he said.

Once the new north-south line open along the Monon Railroad route, runners will be able to get on board trains in Dyer and go directly to Chicago or to the new Hammond Gateway station, where they will be transferred to one of the trains serving the traditional route. “Most of the Monon services will be these shuttles,” said Noland, about 22 a day.

A new calendar will make its debut at the time, taking into account the time that it takes passengers to spend from one train to another at Hammond station to end their trip.

During the meeting on Monday, Jim Nowacki, of Gary, complained of missing a train from the Gary metro station. He was three minutes earlier, but the train left four minutes earlier. Later, he discovered a conductor that trains can leave a few minutes earlier if they run before the scheduled date.

“It looks like bad policy for me. I am 71 years old. I rush to take a train,” said Nowacki.

Noland said it was a long-standing policy followed by railways across the United States. Trains can leave up to five minutes earlier. “We encourage our runners in the direction is to be there early for the trains,” he said.

Doug Ross is an independent journalist for the post-distribute.