MICHIGAN CITY | A study of major upgrades to the South Shore Line in Michigan City is underway with a major goal to improve the line for potential economic growth.

The privately funded cost analysis study is on a fast track for completion before May 2010, the deadline railroads face under federal mandate to implement some form of positive train control.

At a public forum in Michigan City on Thursday night at City Hall, about 75 people attended a presentation about the study focusing on whether to relocate a two-mile stretch of South Shore Line closer to the lakefront or just to the south near Ames Field

Also under examination is overhauling the existing line along 11th Street to elevate the track now embedded in the street with a single train station instead of the city's two current stations.

At the forefront of the study are Chuck D'Aprix, principal with The Downtown Entrepreneurship Project, of Washington, D.C., and Stuart Sirota, of Baltimore-based TND Planning Group.

D'Aprix said the study, once completed, will present the cost of each proposal and the economic development the alternatives can generate. He said the study will not recommend any of the alternatives. Instead, he said the data will be presented to city and Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District officials to decide.

"In the final analysis, economic development is what we're interested in," D'Aprix said.

Sirota said the vision for Michigan City is to have a line that will spur development of new housing, commercial businesses, parks and other features of a pedestrian-friendly town square.

It would be reflective of modern commuter rail line stops where users stepping off the train prefer to be within a half-mile walk of major attractions. With the lakefront, Blue Chip Casino and Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets mall anchoring the north end, Sirota said Michigan City is "ready made" for such a mixed use development.

NICTD spokesperson John Parsons said the railroad prefers to revamp two miles of the existing line along the 11th Street corridor.