Severe weather has been determined as the cause of a June 24 derailment that cost the South Shore Line “several million dollars,” President David Dech said Monday.
“When you see the video, it’s amazing,” he said.
The video doesn’t show the 13 empty coal cars being hauled by South Shore Freight – a tenant railroad – being knocked off the tracks on the Grand Calumet River Bridge near the East Chicago station, but it does show the dark clouds moving fast.
Straight-line winds caused the empty cars to crash into the South Shore Line’s catenary system, knocking down poles and overhead wires that power the passenger trains, Dech said.
The crash didn’t do any bridge damage to speak of, Dech told the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board Monday, but dealing with the catenary system was a challenge.
Anywhere else, it would be just a matter of digging a hole, sticking in a new pole and restringing the wire. But these poles were bolted onto a bridge. And on a curve. And right beside the Indiana Toll Road. A loose wire whipping out onto the toll road would have been dangerous.
“Once the cars were removed, we owe a huge debt of thanks to the ironworkers,” Dech said. “It was amazing to see how quickly they could restore that catenary.”
All service on the railroad was stopped immediately on the railroad, with stranded passengers ferried to their destinations by various means.
“We tested the patience of our passengers, and rightly so,” Dech said. Passengers weren’t happy with the busing between the Hammond Gateway and East Chicago stations when service resumed, and even then it was running the weekend/holiday service to allow the cleanup crews to work without interruption.
“The amount of hours put in to try to get the service back is astronomical,” he said.
The railroad is going through its contracts and agreements as well as insurance documents as it works on how to recoup the costs, Dech said.
“Fortunately, we don’t have a lot of practice with this,” he said, so the railroad is doing a “hot wash” to study the response and how it might be improved if a similar situation happens again.
Even before the derailment, Dech said, he planned to ask the board’s permission to run more direct trains from Dyer into Chicago along the Monon Corridor route. “Now that we know we can do it when we have to, we’re going to see when we can do it,” he said.
In other business Monday, the board reviewed numbers on ridership, including ticket sales and on-time performance.
June ridership, despite the derailment, was higher than April, when the Monon Corridor service began, and May.
For the first half of the year, one-way ticket sales are up 11.7%, to 550,096, the vast majority of tickets sold.
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But in terms of percentage increase, the star by far is 25-ride tickets, increasing 139.6%, to 7,824 this year. Sales of 10-ride tickets are up 39.8%, to 8,222.
The total increase, facing in all categories, is 12.7%.
Total revenue for the first half of the year is up 33.4% over 2025. The Monon Corridor accounts for nearly 15% of revenue from April to June.
Ridership is up 9.9% compared to the same period last year.
On-time performance is 97.7% through June for the Monon Corridor, with weekend performance hitting 100%.
The Lakeshore Corridor’s record is less stellar, at 77.1%, dragged down by the 64.3% mark for weekend trains.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.