(Louisville & Indiana issued the following on July 8.)
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — The Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC) said it reopened its 106-mile main line on June 30 after floods, June 8, washed out track at six locations between Louisville, Ky. and Indianapolis, Ind., including a bridge near Rockford, Ind. The first through train operated between LIRC’s southern terminus at Jeffersonville, Ind. and Indianapolis on July 1.
“Thanks to our Engineering forces and several contractors who really pitched in, we were able to reopen the line in three weeks,” said John Secor, LIRC president. “We recovered the spans from the water, which made the project go much faster,” said Secor. “Now that we’re in full operation, we’re eager to go after new business.”
Despite the outage, LIRC was able to serve customers from Louisville as far north as Seymour and from Indianapolis southward to Columbus. A small amount of traffic was rerouted over other lines.
Louisville & Indiana provides the shortest, most direct rail link between Indianapolis and Louisville. LIRC connects with CSX Transportation, Indiana Rail Road, Norfolk Southern, and Paducah & Louisville Railway. LIRC also serves the ports of Indiana, located on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Ind.
LIRC’s business consists primarily of cement, chemicals, food products, grain, lumber, manufactured goods, paper, plastics, scrap and steel.
The railroad also offers a truck-rail transload facility at Jeffersonville. “This allows customers who don’t have a rail siding to take advantage of rail transportation, which is much more energy efficient,” Secor said. “Trains use only one-third as much fuel as trucks to move a ton of freight.”
Louisville & Indiana began operations in March 1994 when it acquired the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line from Conrail.
Louisville & Indiana is an affiliate of Anacostia & Pacific Company, Inc. (www.anacostia.com), a rail development and consulting firm with offices in Chicago and New York.