Dune Park (NICTD station)

Dune Park
Dune Park Station
Location	33 East U.S. Highway 12 Chesterton, Indiana
Coordinates	41°38′41″N 87°3′39″W / 41.64472°N 87.06083°W / 41.64472; -87.06083
Owned by	NICTD
Line(s)	South Shore Line
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	V-Line
Construction
Parking	Yes; free for passengers
Bicycle facilities	Yes; bike rack
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	6
History
Opened	1985
Electrified	Yes (1500v DC)
Services
Preceding station   NICTD   Following station Portage / Ogden Dunes toward Millennium Station South Shore Line Beverly Shores toward South Bend Airport Dune Acres closed toward Millennium Station South Shore Line before 1994 Kemil Road closed toward South Bend

Dune Park is a station in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, located north of the municipalities of Chesterton and Porter. It is used by South Shore Line trains, and serves as the headquarters of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), the umbrella agency that operates the South Shore Line. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and Indiana State Road 49.

Dune Park is a comparatively new station, built in 1985 to serve as a regional commuter station and as NICTD's corporate headquarters. The station was designed to replace the South Shore's former nearby station at Tremont, Indiana, a location that was becoming depopulated with the expansion of the nearby Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

The Dune Park station was built with substantial parking space to consolidate local commuter service, and in 1994 the South Shore Line ceased to offer its traditional flag stop service to Dune Acres and Kemil Road, several miles west and east of Dune Park respectively. Users of these low-volume stops were instructed to instead use the consolidated Dune Park station.

"Dune Park" is so called because it the station is physically surrounded by land owned by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Major units of the National Lakeshore are accessible from the station on U.S. 12 and the Calumet Trail. The station is also adjacent to the Indiana Dunes State Park, which is accessible to the north via Indiana 49.

Dune Park was also the name of a former section of the Indiana Dunes, between Ogden Dunes, Indiana and Dune Acres, that was physically leveled in the 1960s to create the Port of Indiana steelmaking and industrial complex.