Trains.com

Indiana Rail Road's chances of becoming the new Monon are now slim

1304 views
5 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    October 2009
  • 15 posts
Indiana Rail Road's chances of becoming the new Monon are now slim
Posted by PennsyCC1 on Friday, October 23, 2009 10:25 PM

Now that the INRD has moved off the old Monon between Bedford and Louisville in favor of haulage rights on the LIRC, the chances of INRD becoming the new Monon are now pretty slim. I was kind of hoping that the INRD would buy the trackage off of CSX so they can build their own traffic base. Then, they could possibly rebuild the old Monon between Bedford and Cloverdale and acquire the CSX trackage between there and Chicago so the INRD had their own route into Chicago. There could have even been a possibility of rebuilding the Michigan City branch for trains that would interchange with the Eastern roads as well as rock, coal, and even grain trains. Now all of this is pretty much dead. Not to mention that INRD is 85% owned by CSX, so that makes things even worse. What do you think? Your thoughts.

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, October 24, 2009 6:42 AM

It sounds like an incredible amount of wishful thinking to me.  For the amount of traffic that INRD brings into Chicago, the existing trackage rights operation is probably the best arrangement.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Norfolk Southern Lafayette District
  • 1,642 posts
Posted by bubbajustin on Saturday, October 24, 2009 8:22 AM

I concur,

That sounds like an awful lot to do. I don’t think we will be seeing that happen any time soon. I don’t think that the railroad would have enough $$$ to buy that much of the CSX line.

Needless to say though, you know haw totally awesome that would be!

The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Valparaiso, In
  • 5,921 posts
Posted by MP173 on Saturday, October 24, 2009 9:23 AM

CSX owns 85% of Indiana Railroad.

 

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • 15 posts
Posted by PennsyCC1 on Saturday, October 24, 2009 8:20 PM

I know. I said that in my post.

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: US
  • 117 posts
Posted by JohnWPowell on Sunday, October 25, 2009 11:29 AM

I was told that there is a tunnel on that line somewhere i don`t remember where ,and when csx was working on the rail they found that the roof was showing signs of weakness, and it was going to take major money to fix it!!

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy