L&I Acquires 5 Miles of Track in S. Indiana

An Indiana short line railroad has picked up five more miles of track.

The Louisville & Indiana has acquired the assets and operating rights of the Southern Indiana Railway, which connnects with the L&I at Speed, Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky.

In approving the transaction, the U.S. Surface Transportation board noted that the SIND was out of service and has no current employees.

SIND also connects with CSX at Watson, Indiana, and was once part of an interurban railway known as the Louisville & Northern Electric Traction Company. The SIND shutdown in 2020.

L&I plans to use the former SIND engine house as a maintenance-of-way facility and use surrounding property to store track material.

In a news release, the L&I said it will use SIND to potentially expand service to industrial sites.

Indiana Port Seeking Operator

The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville has issued a request for proposals for a general cargo terminal operator.

The requests seek a long-term business partner to provide stevedoring and distribution services to existing customers, grow and diversify cargoes, make investments in facility expansions and drive projects that create regional economic benefits.

CSX and the Louisville & Indiana serve the terminal, which is situated on 10 acres adjacent to the Ohio River.

The terminal has two barge docks, a 131,000-square-foot warehouse, 4 acres of dock space, outdoor storage and a covered craneway for transloading commodities between barge, rail, truck and warehouse. About 16,000 rail cars pass through the port annually.

The selected operator would take over terminal operations on Jan. 1, 2022, port officials said in a news release.

Orange Leaves, Tuscan Red Locomotive

The Louisville & Indiana operates over a former Pennsylvania Railroad line between Louisville and Indianapolis and has adapted a Pennsyesque look.

Locomotives are painted Tuscan red with gold stripes, and the company herald is shaped like a Keystone.

L&I pays tributes to the nation’s veterans in its Keystone as can be seen here on the nose of SD40M-2 No. 3002.

The 3002 is on the point of train Z550, which is returning is passing through Franklin, Indiana, en route to the yard in Columbus.

The 550 has more work to do in Columbus before the crew can go off the clock.

Of course I framed the train with those track side trees showing off their October foliage.

L&I Named Military Friendly Employer

Short line operator Louisville & Indiana Railroad has received a 2021 Military Friendly Employer designation from G.I. Jobs Magazine.

The magazine uses public data sources and responses to its military friendly companies survey and develops ratings combining survey scores with assessments of ability to meet thresholds for applicant, new hire retention, employee turnover and promotion and advancement of veterans and military employees.

LIRC President John Goldman said in a statement that his company has for several years made a concerted effort to hire employees with military experience.

BLET Members OK Contract with Indiana Short Line

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a new contract with the Louisville & Indiana Railroad.

The agreement was ratified on Oct. 28 and governs wages, benefits and work rules for 20 union members.

The contract will run through November 2024 and provide a 17 percent increase in wages over the life of the agreement, BLET officials said.

BLET said it also negotiated guaranteed rest days on the guaranteed extra board, secured expanded bereavement leave and protected members’ seniority when filling vacancies.

The L&I is based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and operates a 10-6 mile former Pennsylvania Railroad route between Indianapolis and Louisville, Kentucky.

L&I Begins Work on Overpass

Construction had begun on $35 million overpass involving the Louisville & Indiana in Columbus, Indiana.

The overpass and a cloverleaf interchange at Indiana routes 46 and 11 will enable motorists to avoid delays at grade crossings on a route also used by CSX.

In a news release, the City of Columbus said that rail traffic is projected to increase on the former Pennsylvania mainline between Indianapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, in coming years.

Planning and design work on the overpass project began four years ago.

The overpass is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 although some finishing work is expected to continue into 2021.

The L&I in conjunction with CSX has been working to upgrade the rail on the 106-mile route to continuous welded rail to allow longer, heavier and faster CSX trains to use it.

Anacostia Rail Lauded for Military Support

Anacostia Rail Holdings has received the Corporate Distinguished Service Award from the National Defense Transportation Association for its support of logistics in military affairs.

Anacostia, which operates six U.S. short lines, has provided rail service to Camp Atterbury in South Central Indiana through its Louisville & Indiana Railroad subsidiary.

LIRC began serving Camp Atterbury in 2017 with a National Guard training mission that simulated combat operations and involved 309 rail cars, 1,207 pieces of equipment and 6,000 soldiers.

The Illinois National Guard staged a similar deployment at the camp in 2018, and the Minnesota National Guard also conducted training at the site.

In 2019, LIRC managed multiple rail deployments from the camp to Beaumont, Texas.

L&I to Open Malt Grain Transloading Facility

The Louisville & Indiana will open on June 13 a tranloading facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana, that is designed to expand the distribution of malted grain for the distillery and brewing industries in northern Kentucky.

The transload facility is located within the L&I’s Jeffersonville yard. Construction began in February.

L&I said in a news release that the facility has a covered, open-ended structure enclosing a 90-foot section of track with a concrete pad. A concrete pit below allows conveyors to load trucks for delivery of malting grain to customers.

A covered hopper car holding 80 tons of grain can be unloaded in a little as 30 minutes.

The L&I began delivering shipments of malting grain in July 2018. Great Western Malting is a partner with L&I at the transloading facility.

Short Lines Honored at ASLRRA Meeting

The Louisville & Indiana Railroad has received the Veterans Recruitment Award from the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

The award, which was presented at the ASLRRA convention in Nashville, Tennessee, honored the L&I for its success in military veteran recruitment.

A unit of Anacostia Rail Holdings, the L&I has a 30 percent ratio of veterans in its workforce and 30 percent of its 2017 new hires were veterans.

In a news release, ASLRRA said the L&I has has won the award for two straight years.

The award recognizes short lines that have demonstrated a commitment to hiring military veterans, as evidenced by the percentage of employees who are veterans.

The Michigan-based Lake State Railway and Pennsylvania-based Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad were honored with marketing awards that recognize outstanding business performance by a railroad in providing innovative service to meet customer needs.

ASLRRA said the marketing awards are given to carriers that demonstrate one or more of the following: Using the railroad’s unique operating characteristics to deliver value; partnering with other development authorities, Class Is, or companies; and delivering economic success to both the railroad and the community it serves.

Jeffersonville Port Handled 2.2M Tons in 2016

During 2016, the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville handled 2.2 million tons of cargo, making it the third consecutive year the port has exceeded 2 million tons of cargo.

In a news release the port said that its annual shipping total was 17 percent higher than the previous five-year average.

Major cargoes handed at the port include steel, grain and fertilizer.

Steel shipments last year in 2016 were the second highest in port history.

There are 14 companies at the port that process or handle steel, aluminum, lubricants or plastics that support the top six automakers in the United States, port officials said.

The port is served by CSX and the Louisville & Indiana Railroad.