sandi_travelnut

My son needs to take the train from Chicago to SB Indiana. We have a good map of the El, but where would he have to go to catch an interstate train? Also, is there a good website to see the train schedules?

Thanks.

joethekay

Randolph Street Station for the South Shore line to South Bend. It also stops at Van Buren St and at University of Chicago. Here is their website: http://www.nictd.com/
Enjoy the train ride.

sandi_travelnut

cool, he'll be leaving from UIC campus. Can he buy a ticket there (at that stop) to get on the train or does he have to go to the Randolph street station first?

Racy

Sandi, the train stops in Hyde Park at the University of Chicago, NOT UIC. Your son will have to take the El to Washington/Dearborn and walk (you can do it all underground) to the Randolph Street Station.

HTH,
Racy

joethekay

Also, South Bend is now always one
hour ahead (EDT), since Indiana has decided to follow most of the nation in observing daylight savings time.

sandi_travelnut

thanks for the clarification.

sandi_travelnut

Sorry, one last question...

Would you think that he could arrive and easily buy a ticket prior to boarding or do you think it might be sold out ahead of time?

joethekay

Not to worry. This is basically a commuter train. The South Shore has ticket agents at Randolph St., Van Buren St., ...and South Bend (Friday – Sunday only).Our ticket agents accept cash or personal checks (no checks at Van Buren). We also have a ticket vending machine at South Bend. This vending machine accepts cash only.

We assess a $1.00 surcharge for passengers who choose to purchase their ticket on the train after boarding at a station where a ticket agent is on duty.

Most weekend trains travel to South Bend, but on weekdays most only go as far as Michigan City, with fewer going all the awy to SB. Enjoy.

sandi_travelnut

So you work for the train system? The "we" gave it away. But being a commuter train, does that mean that he would normally be able to just arrive a few minutes prior to departing and be pretty sure he could still get on? I know there's no guarentees and assume no assigned seats...and holidays may be a different story but in all, no worries about seat availability?

joethekay

No worries. Just show up, buy ticket, get on board and if you don't buy ticket the conductor will just charge your son an extra $ 1.00. They don't like anything larger than $ 20 bills. You didn't say when your son will be travelling. Yes, it can be crowded especially during weekday rush hours. No guarantee of seat as the trains have been especially busy lately due to the Damn Ryan rebuild and higher gas prices. After Hedgewish or Hammond there should be seats as the train thins out the closer you get to Michigan City and SB.The "we" came from the NICT web site as I had cut and paste the info for you. I do not work for, nor represent myself as an employee of the the south shore. I have ridden this train many times. Relax. Your son will have a good trip the crew is customer friendly. Mind if I ask why he is going to South Bend?

sandi_travelnut

His Dad lives there. My son will either be going to UIC and visiting SB often or going to IUSB and visiting Chicago often. Either way, he'll become very familiar with this route.

joethekay

Great! The train should work out just fine for now as I'm sure when he gets his car he will drive this distance as most people do. its less than 100 miles between these cities.
Off topic here, I'm making plans to send my college son off to London for the summer and fall. He has an internship there and will also be attending fall semester in London.

sandi_travelnut

My son has been to Paris, Switzerland and Italy several times but doesn't seem to have an interest in going to school overseas. I guess I'm projecting my love of international travel on him when I gasp in disbelief that he doesn't want to. For him, just getting out of the house and to another state is just fine with him. We live in Dallas.

sandi_travelnut

joethekay (or anyone else), if you're still out there..one last question...
Please tell me if this is correct:

My son is arriving at O'hare. He takes the blue line from the airport to Clark station where he transfer to Randolph st. (purple line). Since he needs to ultimately get to south bend, does he look for signs for the Northern Indiana Commuter trains? What would they say? Does he need to exit randolph st station or walk down a tunnel before he sees where to get on the NICT train?

Thanks for helping me put this together.

Racy

Personally, I wouldn't bother transfering trains--just get off the blue line at Washington and Dearborn, walk East to Michigan Ave, and turn right--the stairs down to the train station are right in front of the Osco drug store. The walk is less than 3 blocks.

HTH,
Racy

sandi_travelnut

what does the sign say at the stairs? something about south shore train or northern indiana?

Here's the other situation, I'd like to run by you...

On the way back from South Bend to O'Hare on a saturday. His flight leaves at 1:30p so I want him to get there as close to 12:30 as possible. This is what we came up with:

Get on the 9:40a train in South Bend to Randolph station (says it arrives at 11am. Is there a time difference?) Since it's saturday, there's no trian service from randolph so he has to walk 4 blocks west to washington and dearborn and get on the blue line north to O'hare. That sound right?

sandi_travelnut

racy can I email you directly?

Racy

Sorry, I can't remember what the sign says.

South Bend is on Eastern time, so yes, there is a time change.

The walk from the train station to the Blue Line station is really short--maybe 10 minutes at a saunter. The El to ORD will be less than an hour, including waiting for the train to arrive. So he should arrive by noon.

Racy