Railroad Forums 

  • Fate of Nickel Plate in Indiana

  • Discussion related to the Norfolk & Western, up to 1982. Also includes discussion of the Virginian Railway (1959); Wabash; Nickel Plate; Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway; Akron, Canton & Youngstown Raiload (all 1964); and the Illinois Terminal (1981).
Discussion related to the Norfolk & Western, up to 1982. Also includes discussion of the Virginian Railway (1959); Wabash; Nickel Plate; Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway; Akron, Canton & Youngstown Raiload (all 1964); and the Illinois Terminal (1981).
 #1438254  by Jeff Smith
 
http://www.savethenickelplate.org/rfp-results.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.ibj.com/articles/64652-iowa ... hest-score" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority has ranked a proposal from Iowa Pacific Holdings as the top choice among those submitted by potential operators of the Nickel Plate Railroad line.

On Tuesday night, the Port Authority publicly released the five responses it received to its request for proposals. Four out of the five proposals outlined plans to use the full 37-mile stretch from Tipton to Indianapolis, despite plans from local governments to rip up a major section of the rails for a recreational trail.

The Port Authority is searching for a company to handle operations on the line because it terminated its policy-of-use agreement with the Indiana Transportation Museum in March 2016 amid concerns about the not-for-profit’s financials and maintenance of the tracks.

The owners of the track—Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County—announced plans in February to convert 9.2 miles of the track into a pedestrian and bike path called the Nickel Plate Trail.

But officials with the Port Authority, a quasi-government agency that oversees the railroad, said the trail is not a done deal and released a request for proposals for a new operator in April.
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 #1488035  by erie910
 
U.S. Rail has submitted a request to the Surface Transportation Board to buy all the track owned by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority. Two of the Authority's owners, Noblesville and Fishers, petitioned the Surface Transportation Board for complete abandonment so that the track between Noblesville & Fishers can be torn up and converted into a trail. U.S. Rail submitted a petition to the STB to require the Authority to sell the line to U.S. Rail, per requirements of federal law, so that it can develop freight business on it. After NS sold the line to the Authority, the Indiana Rail Road was the designated freight operator. Except for coal shipment to a power plant, INRD never developed any other business on the line. U.S. Rail says that it has commitments from four shippers to use freight service. How the freight would get there is another question, since the line is isolated from the rail system. On the north, the interchange with NS was north of a diamond, which NS removed. On the south, the interchange was via the Belt, but the Belt crossed the CSX main line to Anderson and points east on two diamonds, both of which were removed. While reinstallation of the diamonds is a money issue, there is the issue of distant and home signals for the diamonds, and the added fuel cost from reducing throttles to notch 4 or 5 while the engines cross the diamonds and then accelerating afterwards.

From what I can determine, the STB has made no final decision yet.
 #1495090  by Jeff Smith
 
https://fox59.com/2018/12/28/federal-bo ... velopment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FISHERS, Ind. — Federal regulators have ruled in favor of a plan to convert central Indiana’s Nickel Plate Railroad corridor into a recreational trail.

The Federal Surface Transportation Board issued three interim trail use notices last week for segments of the railway in Noblesville, Fishers and Indianapolis. The cities want to convert the line into a multi-use pedestrian and bicycle trail.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that the board also denied Ohio-based U.S. Rail Holding’s motion for preliminary injunction. U.S. Rail had filed a petition asking the board to force Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County to sell the tracks so they can be used to move grain.
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