(The following report by Randy Wells appeared on the Indiana Gazette website on November 11.)
INDIANA, Pa. — By next summer, something that hasn’t happened in Indiana in more than a decade may be a daily occurrence again.
Coal trains may be rolling through town.
Dave Collins, president of Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, said Monday that a train will probably run through Indiana twice a day, seven days a week, hauling coal from the Rosebud Mining Co. mine near Freeport to the Homer City Generating Station, and then returning empty.
To do that, B&P will reactivate “the Indiana Branch,” a 16-mile section of rail line from Creekside to Homer City. The Indiana Branch, now owned by CSX Transportation, has not seen a train in about a dozen years, and will need repairs and improvements before trains travel it again.
Collins said negotiations to purchase the Indiana Branch from CSX should be completed by the end of the year. Rehabilitation work on the line will start in the spring.
Collins and Kevin Bowser, B&P’s director of marketing and industrial development, updated about 50 municipal and business representatives and elected officials during an hour-long meeting at the Career Link Center along Indian Springs Road.
Much of the discussion centered on the safety of road and street crossings along the reactivated rail line, including 12 crossings within a mile in Indiana Borough.
“In order to be a good citizen, we need to be sure those are operated safely,” Collins said.
Railroad officials will work with representatives of the state Department of Transportation and municipalities over the next several months to decide what type of gates and flashing lights will be needed at each crossing. David Baer, B&P’s vice president and chief engineer, said rubber strips and new asphalt will also be added to crossings to make a smoother surface for vehicles driving over the tracks.
Collins said the Homer City Generating Station burns 5 million to 6 million tons of coal annually. When the generating station first went into operation, it was fueled by coal that came to the surface from a mine at the station. But station owner Edison Mission Energy of California now has to reach farther away for coal supplies, and all the coal burned at the plant is now trucked in.
“Our goal is to bring coal direct to the power plant” by rail from the Rosebud mine by next summer, Collins said.
To do that, the coal will be shipped north to West Mosgrove, then east to Punxsutawney, then south past Marion Center to Creekside, and then over the reactivated Indiana Branch to the power station.
Many of the first questions raised at the meeting were about the trains themselves: How many? How long? How fast?
“A train each way, each day,” Collins answered.
Initial plans are for small trains of 40 to 50 cars to make coal deliveries to the generating station. Each rail car is about 60 feet long, so an entire train would be about 3,000 feet long – long enough to simultaneously but temporarily block several east-west streets in Indiana.
The trains’ probable speed will be 10 to 25 mph, he said.
Collins was also asked what time of day local residents and motorists should expect the trains.
“We don’t know that,” Collins answered. “We will try to run as convenient a time as possible.”
An overnight train would interfere less with motor vehicle traffic, he pointed out, but people living in homes near the tracks may not think a train passing by in the middle of the night is convenient.
“And if we have a power plant that needs that coal – we have to deliver it,” he said.
Another reason that Collins may not be able to give exact running times is that Norfolk & Southern Railroad trains carrying coal to the Keystone Generating Station near Shelocta also make daily trips on the single line between Punxsutawney and Creekside. B&P trains will have to be scheduled to run when the line is free.
Regardless of what time of day a loaded coal train rolls through Indiana, the empty train will probably make its return trip about four hours later, Collins said.
Collins hopes his railroad can capture about 1 million tons of the total annual market for the Homer City plant.
County commissioner-elect Rodney Ruddock asked what economic development benefits the reactivated Indiana Branch might have for Indiana County.
Bowser answered that B&P will be looking for other local businesses that want to receive or ship products by rail. One of the first may be the Kovalchick Salvage Corp. of Indiana. Kovalchick representatives are considering using the railroad to move about 100,000 tons of salvage material from its Wayne Avenue site.
Representatives of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Indiana Area School District also wanted to know what provisions B&P would make to ensure the safety of hundreds of students who will cross the railroad tracks each day, both as pedestrians and in buses.
Bowser said the railroad will make available a program called Operation Lifesaver to help educate students about the dangers of walking near active rail lines, and B&P officials will meet with representatives of the school district’s transportation department so the railroad is aware which crossings are on school bus routes.
Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, said it is important to note that B&P representatives were not required to participate in Monday’s informational meeting or in a similar one held earlier.
“The railroad has been accommodating so far,” he said, and agreed that the reactivated Indiana Branch could be “an important economic tool” for the area.
But he told the municipal and elected officials that there “will be some bumps” — tough questions from constituents — as preparations are made to once again send trains through White Township and Indiana Borough.