HAMMOND | Dozens of some of Lake County business leaders were given insight Wednesday into efforts to expand South Shore passenger rail service to Valparaiso and Lowell.

Members of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce listened to Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District General Manager Jerry Hanas and Northwest Indiana Forum Executive Director Vice Galbiati discuss why they believe expansion is needed. The session took place at the chamber of commerce's monthly membership luncheon.

Hanas offered statistics demonstrating a 71 percent ridership increase for the South Shore since 2000. He added a large number of riders now are coming from the U.S. 41 corridor south of Ridge Road.

Hanas used the information to support his contention to expand rail service from Hammond to Munster and then to Lowell to the south, and to Valparaiso to the east.

According to Hanas, the railroad is at capacity, as is parking, at most of its stops, especially so at the Hammond station. A way to temporarily meet the demands of a growing ridership is NICTD's ordering of 14 new bi-level passenger cars, similar to the ones utilized by the METRA passenger train service in Illinois.

Galbiati said three factors are causing America to lose its competitive edge in the world marketplace: the energy crisis, lack of investment in infrastructure and lack of adequate work force development. He categorized the expansion of the South Shore service to Valparaiso as an infrastructure investment that would pay dividends in the future as the region's population continues to expand.

Galbiati also urged those in attendance to view the Chicago area as a mega-region, instead of a series of separate communities.

"The Great Lakes region is one of the fastest-growing mega-regions in the world and believe me, people are taking notice of that growth," he said.

In order for the expansion to become reality, 17.5 percent of the money used to fund it would have to come from local communities. Galbiati argued for local governments to take a bigger-picture approach to the issue and support the expansion.

"This is the deal of the century and we just have to get over our parochial interests and anecdotal politics," he said.

"If it is not our generation of professionals that allows this to happen, it will not get any more affordable in the future and your children will gave to pay for it. I guarantee."