Mayor Pete Buttigieg is

behind relocating the South Shore Line to a location in downtown South Bend.

The plan would place it on South Street, near Four Winds Field.

"When we were looking at this one or two years ago, I don't think we realized that downtown was really a vial option," said Buttigieg on 16 Morning News. "We had always been told that the price was completely out of reach and we were also thinking mostly about keeping that time as short as possible."

According to Buttigieg, bringing the line downtown wouldn’t add much more time to the trip, compared to a location on the city’s west side. The ride to or from Chicago would be about 90 minutes.

The estimated cost of the project is also not out of reach, at about $100 million. The mayor also says the new location has a $400 million economic potential.

Buttigieg is excited about the possibility of the new location, citing what the city was like seven years ago.

"We were having debates over whether Eddy Street Commons had killed any possibility of a downtown dining scene, and whether the Chase Tower was going to be torn down, and whether we should invest another penny in Coveleski Stadium." said Buttigieg. "Picture what it might be like seven years from now in 2025. If you could step on a train downtown, maybe walking from one of those great apartments or homes that are being built in the downtown area, and 90 minutes later be stepping off of it at Millennium Station.”

He believes that officials owe it to the future of the city to research the plan, by looking at the environmental, financial and engineering factors.