Officials rejected both bids for the South Shore Line’s $491 million Double Track project Monday because they were 75% above engineering estimates.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Board agreed to rebid the project, possibly in August.

“I’m going to be recommending to board that we reject these bids and we sit down with construction industry and figure out what we can do to put these projects more in line …” NICTD general manager Mike Noland said.

He said the project estimates were based on an analysis from a couple of engineering firms with oversight from the Federal Transit Administration.

Noland hopes the railroad can find ways to streamline the project and develop a new bid process by late August.

“We had a lot of interest in the project,” he said with 66 bid packets released. “We’re going to not only talk with those, but industries in the broader sense to find out why some didn’t make a bid.”

The project includes new tracks, bridges, signals and overhead power lines between Gary and Michigan City, as well as a new track configuration through Michigan City streets.

Officials opened two bids last week. The lower bid, $399,674,000, was from F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen and Associates, Chicago. The other Double Track bid of $424,524,480 was from Walsh/Herzog Joint Venture.

Paschen and Ragnar Benson Construction have a $535 million design/build contract for the South Shore Line’s other major project, the $945 million West Lake Corridor between Hammond and Dyer.

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.