CSX operated its executive train in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio this week as part of an inspection of a new route for eastbound freight traffic moving between Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati.
The special operated north from Louisville on the Louisville & Indiana Railroad to Seymour, Indiana, where it then turned east to travel to Cincinnati on the CSX Indiana Subdivision.
An L&I news release said that on or shortly after Sept. 1 CSX will move eastbound traffic off its current route between Louisville and Cincinnati from a former Louisville & Nashville route to follow the path taken by the inspection train.
Westbound traffic from Cincinnati to Louisville will continue to use the ex-L&N.
The new routing is former Pennsylvania Railroad between Louisville and Seymour, and former Baltimore & Ohio between Seymour and Cincinnati with the latter having been part of the Cincinnati-St. Louis mainline.
At one time, the B&O had its own route between Louisville and North Vernon, Indiana, on the St. Louis line, but that route has since been abandoned.
CSX and the L&I have recently rebuilt the ex-Pennsy route between Louisville and Seymour, which hosted Amtrak’s Kentucky Cardinal between 1999 and 2003.
In PRR days, the route hosted Chicago-Louisville trains and through service for Florida, including the South Wind.
CSX spent $100 million for track and signal improvements to the L&I line that will raise the top speed from 25 mph to 49 mph.
An online report said that by adopting directional running CSX will be able to operate longer trains that are not limited by siding length on the ex-L&N route.
CSX has been publicizing the increase in traffic on the Indiana Sub in recent weeks, with the L&I news release saying that CSX train frequency will increase from three to four trains per day to as many as 10 with additional traffic possible.
Three of the CSX trains on the L&I operate north of Seymour to Indianapolis. Those trains do not operate daily.
The Indiana Sub sees little traffic west of Seymour across Indiana and CSX has taken much of the line out of service within Illinois. Until the middle 1960s, this was the route used by the B&O premier St. Louis-Washington train the National Limited.
The former L&N mainline in Kentucky will continue to see a local operating in both directions and perhaps an eastbound intermodal train, the Q134.
The Indiana Sub still has numerous B&O color position light signals in use between Seymour and Cincinnati.
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