Indiana Rail Road - Overview

Overview

In May 2006, INRD completed the purchase of the Canadian Pacific Railway line from Terre Haute to Bedford, Indiana, the former Milwaukee Road/Soo Line Railroad Latta Subdivision, now known as INRD's Chicago Subdivision, which crosses the Indianapolis Subdivision at grade at Linton, Indiana. The former Latta Sub was isolated from the rest of the CPR, and was reached from Chicago via trackage rights over CSX Transportation's former Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad line; further trackage rights over CSX's former Monon from Bedford to Louisville, Kentucky (negotiated as part of the Monon's merger with CSX predecessor Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971) allowed the CPR access into the Bluegrass State. These trackage rights were transferred to the Indiana Rail Road as part of the sale, bringing INRD's total route structure to approximately 500 miles. The company also operates the remnants of the Monon Railroad in and around Bloomington, Indiana, and has trackage rights over other lines in and around Indianapolis.

The INRD primarily hauls coal from Indiana mines to electric generating plants along the line. Appliances, grain, plastics, aggregates and food products are the other major freight hauled. Major customers include Indianapolis Power & Light, Ameren, Hoosier Energy, Duke Energy, Lincoland AgriEnergy (ethanol), Marathon Oil, Hershey Foods, General Electric, Mont Eagle Mills, PolyOne Corporation, Bemis Plastics and others.

The company's executive and administrative offices are located in downtown Indianapolis, with a classification yard, shops and main transloading facility located on the city's near south side at the Senate Avenue Terminal (between I-70 and the Indianapolis Union Railway's Belt Line). Long abandoned and now removed was a connection to Union Station, which once ran between Senate Avenue (originally known as Mississippi Street) and Missouri Street north from this terminal's location through the present-day site of Lucas Oil Stadium. A remnant of this connection can still be noted today in the unusual height of I-70's overpass above West and Missouri streets, which when the freeway was built in the early 1970s had to also pass over this then still active rail line.

Additional INRD classification yards are located at Palestine, Illinois and Jasonville, Indiana. The latter facility, known as Hiawatha (in tribute to original owner Milwaukee Road's crack passenger trains) is also home to the main locomotive servicing facility. The company was formed in 1986 by entrepreneur Thomas Hoback, who remains president and chief executive officer. CSX Transportation now owns a majority interest in the parent company. On March 18, 2009, the railroad announced that it would build a new 5.2 mile rail spur in Sullivan County, Indiana for the new Bear Run coal mine. Bear Run is being developed by Peabody Coal and is expected to produce more than 8 millions tons annually.