As the South Shore Line moves forward with its largest projects in decades, two of the railroad’s longest serving and best-known employees are retiring.
Bob Byrd, chief of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District police force for 33 years, and John Parsons, one of NICTD’s top executives and spokesmen for 25 years, are ending their careers.
Their retirements were announced by Michael Noland, the railroad’s president and general manager, at Friday’s NICTD meeting.
NICTD didn’t have a police force when Byrd, a Lake County police officer at the time, approached Gerald Hanas, then NICTD general manager. The railroad was plagued then with crimes in its stations and trains, Byrd said.
“I said, ‘Hire me and some of my fellow officers, and we’ll solve your problems,'” he said.
Now, Byrd said, NICTD’s “eight incredibly talented officers” work to keep the railroad’s employees, riders and property safe.
Noland said Lt. Jessie Watts Jr. will be the acting chief.
Byrd’s last day with NICTD was Friday. His 43 years in law enforcement includes two as a military police officer and eight with the Lake County sheriff’s police. While with NICTD, he also served seven years as a deputy Porter County coroner, and he has been an active member of and spokesman for the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force.
Parsons is NICTD’s planning and marketing director, but he also has headed the railroad’s media relations and government relations efforts.
When Parsons leaves at the end of this year, his duties will be divided among six employees, Noland said.
“There is no more dedicated employee,” he said of Parsons. “He’s been a phenomenal team player.”
Parsons had worked on transit studies at Indiana University and the Indiana Department of Transportation before coming to NICTD in 1992. He said Hanas — who also hired him — warned that “this job can consume you.”
“It’s been a remarkable run,” Parsons said.
Noland said he remains “cautiously optimistic” the federal government will fund half the cost of NICTD’s major projects: The $665 million West Lake Corridor from Hammond to Dyer and the $312 million double-track service improvement between Gary and Michigan City.
He said people submitted more than 70 comments during two recent hearings on the double-track project, and he hopes for a favorable ruling on its environmental impact by the end of this year. The final environmental statement on West Lake could be completed in February, he said.
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If those approvals are granted, NICTD would begin acquiring properties for both projects, hoping for full funding approval in late 2018.
A system allowing smartphone users to track the locations of South Shore trains could be in service by the end of the year, said Boris Matakovic, the railroad’s chief information officer.
“They’ll have real-time information on where our trains are,” he said. “It’s a really good enhancement.”
Noland said the South Shore is watching to see what effect a 25-cent increase in Chicago-area Metra fares has on the South Shore. Previously, South Shore fares often have risen after Metra increases, but no automatic increase is planned now.
The Metra increase would be felt by South Shore riders who board in Chicago’s Hegewisch community, and in the past the increased fare has prompted some of those riders to get on board in Hammond or East Chicago.
Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.