By PAULENE POPARAD

The cars parked in the grass Friday along U.S. 12 told the story.

Dune Park Station badly needs more parking spaces for commuters riding the South Shore.

Officials with the public Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which owns and operates the railroad, announced it has begun making plans to add 119 parking spaces at Dune Park this year. The new spaces will be located east of the current east parking lot.

Dune Park currently has 392 parking spaces. By comparison the South Shore station in East Chicago has 1,200 parking spaces and some days only about 50 or 60 are left.

NICTD general manager Gerald Hanas said passenger vehicles at Dune Park have been parked on the grass, which is in the U.S. 12 right-of-way, all summer and the Indiana Department of Transportation is not happy about it.

A check of license plates in South Shore parking lots shows several of the vehicles are from the state of Michigan, Hanas said, with those commuters apparently boarding South Shore trains rather than driving into Chicago. Ridership from NICTD’s station at the Michiana Regional Airport in South Bend has seen a more than 15 percent increase in ridership year-to-date.

“South Bend is really pushing the entire railroad but the balance of the stations are catching up,” said Hanas.

NICTD marketing director John Parsons said in 2003 the price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $1.31 compared to today’s $2.27. While diesel-powered commuter systems are reeling from increased fuel prices, said NICTD board member Dennis Burke, the South Shore’s fortunate to be powered by an overhead electric catenary system.

The expansion parcel for Dune Park parking is not within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore but Hanas said the National Park Service will be notified so it can remove any trees or plant material it wishes prior to lot construction.

Hanas said NICTD also is working with NPS to identify dead trees that can be removed within its boundaries near the South Shore catenary lines to avoid problems like the July 4 service interrruption when a dead tree fell and disrupted the power supply to trains causing major delays to several late-afternoon trains.

Improvements at Hegewisch Station also are planned. The NICTD board awarded a contract not to exceed $325,000 to URS Corporation of Illinois to undertake design and engineering plans related to constructing high-level boarding platforms at Hegewisch. Spring 2006 construction is eyed. The cost is estimated to be about $2 million.

Hanas said Hegewisch has the most boardings of any South Shore station. High platforms, like at the line’s Hammond Station, enable commuters to board and detrain more quickly because they walk directly onto the trains and do not have to go up and down steps. Reducing dwell time at stations improves on-time performance.

On another matter, by unanimous vote the NICTD board adopted a resolution endorsing the inclusion of St. Joseph County in the Central time zone like LaPorte, Porter and Lake counties. The South Shore serves passengers between South Bend in St. Joseph County and Chicago.

Parsons said the South Shore is the only commuter railroad in the country that splits between time zones, the single greatest source of confusion for St. Joseph County riders, he noted. Currently from October to April that county is one hour ahead on Eastern time, but with Indiana’s adoption of daylight saving time statewide the county always will be one hour different that other South Shore stations.

The NICTD resolution will be forwarded to the St. Joseph County Council and County Board of Commissioners as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which will hold a series of public hearings to determine if some Indiana counties should remain on Eastern time or be placed in the Central time zone.

NICTD Chairman David Niezgodski, a St. Joseph County Commissioner, said they have been having several meetings on the issue and the majority favors being on Central time. “It seems there could not be a better place than for this board to take a position,” he stated. “Chicago is not going to change.”

South Bend is the largest city in Indiana directly connected by the South Shore to Chicago, which is the third largest metropolitan area in the country. NICTD believes sharing a common time zone with Chicago will serve to enhance the economic strengths of the greater South Bend/Mishawaka area.

It was reported weekday off-peak and weekend trains continue to be popular. Some of those trains are very crowded, according to Hanas.

So far in 2005 average weekend/holiday ridership has jumped by 17 percent. Parsons said the Northerly Island Pavilion, the former Miegs Field, is a new venue for concerts in Chicago with several other events in the city through the summer including the Rolling Stones in concert at Soldier Field Sept. 10. Ridership to the Cubs games continues to hold strong, but few Sox fans ride the South Shore.

Taste of Chicago ridership has increased by almost 67 percent since 1992, said Parsons, with over 140,000 passengers using the South Shore this year.

The off-peak and weekend riders tend to bring more baggage on the trains, a fact not lost on those trying to step-up security here in the wake of last month’s terrorist bombings in London’s commuter system. NICTD board members said everything from backpacks to suitcases and strollers are brought aboard South Shore trains.

Under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s current orange alert level, Hanas said South Shore riders see more police officers riding the trains, a higher level of observation by the crew of baggage, train announcements asking commuters to be aware of their surroundings, and bomb-sniffing dogs visiting some stations.

Two Homeland Security grants are being used to design a closed-circuit television surveillance system for the South Shore, said Hanas.

In other business he reported the long-awaited South Shore crew quarters at renovated Randolph Station in Chicago are nearing completion. Occupancy is expected this summer. “We’ll have a nice facility for the first time ever for crew and management (there),” said Hanas.

Board member Burke, a South Shore employee, said the doors at the Randolph Station entrance from the platforms are not equipped with automatic door openers for easier access by the handicapped. Parsons said the oversight will be brought up with Metra, which operates the station. Hanas said if NICTD wants the door openers, the district may have to pay for them.

It was announced late last week that U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Merrillville, has secured a $1.5 million grant for NICTD to update a 1998-99 major investment study regarding the feasibility of extending the South Shore south to Lowell and/or Valparaiso. Known as the Westlake line, Parsons said the study needs to be updated with the results of the 2000 census as well as other data.

Posted 8/12/2005