Railroad company announces new terminal

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Some new construction will enhance Indianapolis' nickname as the Crossroads of America.  A local railroad company will see to that.

The Indiana Railroad Company recently announced plans for a new terminal in Indianapolis. Jim Merritt, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at INRD, said it's "not much to look at."  But, it will help move products across the country and around Indianapolis. 

INRD is a regional railroad serving Indiana and Illinois along about 500 miles of track.  When the construction is done, the bigger terminal will be a link to the west coast. 

"It's very difficult to get anything out of LA/Long Beach," Merritt said. 

So, his company's new deal with CN, the Canadian National Railway Company, is a way to bypass that bottleneck. CN will haul products from Vancouver, British Columbia and then connect to INRD where its line begins in Illinois. 

The trains may haul Costco containers or boxes bound for TJ Maxx. 

"That's how we're getting into the business of different types of haul," Merritt told 24-Hour News 8. Right now, 60 percent of the railroad's business comes from hauling coal. 

The rest could be anything from hardwoods to Hershey products. 

The new terminal, planned for the current Senate Avenue railroad yard south of Lucas Oil Stadium, will be "an inter-modal facility," giving the company a chance to move a greater variety of goods.  The building will require an investment of over a million dollars. 

"A million dollars, for us, is a lot of money," Merritt said.

The company's relationship with CN will reduce the shipment time for products imported from Asia to the west coast.  Merritt estimated it would cut two days off the travel time that's common for shipments from Los Angeles to Indianapolis.  It will also allow the line to diversify the kind of cargo it moves.

INRD expects the first import train to see its first import train in late June. 

The railroad company has been in business for 26 years.  It is primarily (90 percent) owned by the CSX Corporation. The other 10 percent is owned by the CEO of INRD, Tom Hoback.  He is engineering other ambitious expansion plans for the Hoosier rail line.

INRD is also developing a new facility in Odon, in southern Indiana. 

That rail yard will give trucks a place to pick-up or drop-off loads.  Merritt predicts that site's proximity to the new I-69 will make it "a real transportation hub" as the highway attracts new development to the area.