The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend was one of the last interurban railroads to operate profitably in the United States. Aggressive management, led by financier Samuel Insull, reconceptualized the South Shore as the linchpin of a public transportation network operating throughout the industrialized Indiana Dunes region of Indiana. Insull interests built the 11th Street Station in central Michigan City in May 1927 as a pioneering piece of multimodal public transportation infrastructure. The South Shore had affiliated with several regional bus lines, and the 11th Street Station was conceived as a waiting area point where system users would transfer between a bus and an electric train. After operating relatively successfully for some decades, the South Shore entered bankruptcy in the 1980s. Electric train service was reorganized under the umbrella of the publicly funded Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, but affiliated bus service had long since ceased. The South Shore Line closed the 11th Street station building in November 1987, but its NICTD successor-in-interest maintains train service to the street adjacent to the station. The station building itself, designed by Insull's staff-architect Arthur U. Gerber, is closed and out of service.
Current status
The trains stop near the original station, opening the door on the north side of the track. To make up for the closure of the station, NICTD set up a small passenger shelter at the end of the adjacent parking lot, near the 11th Street/Pine Street intersection. As the rule of thumb, conductors only open the doors in the first two cars. Michigan City and NICTD have discussed the possibility of moving the tracks off the street, onto a less intrusive alignment. A series of recent studies concluded that the 11th Street alignment is the most viable and cost-effective option, especially in terms of transit-oriented development. According to the preliminary plans, the alignment will be double-tracked and moved half a block south of its present location. The current station will be replaced with a new facility between Franklin and Washington streets, southwest of the current location. It will have a raised, accessible platform and a new multi-level parking lot and have a siding track. Suffice to say, most of the buildings on the South side of 11th Street would have to be demolished to make way for the realignment. There are considerable concerns among Michigan City residents about this plan, particularly those who would be relocated. Other possible alignments exist that would also separate the NICTD tracks from a grade widely used by motor vehicle traffic, and a public hearing was held in September 2011 to discuss these possible alignments.
