(Reprinted from Greene County Daily World Monday, August 26, 2011)
Submitted by Chris Dees
Indiana Rail Road Company (IRRC) will announce a major capital investment at a groundbreaking ceremony today in Jasonville. IRRC President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas G. Hoback, along with state and Greene County officials, will participate in the 11 a.m. ceremony at IRRC’s Hiawatha Yard near Jasonville. Hiawatha Yard is the operational heart of the 500-mile Indiana Rail Road system, which is headquartered in Indianapolis and provides nearly 200 jobs in central and southwest Indiana, and east-central Illinois. The event will announce a $65 million, five-year investment plan IRRC is undertaking to prepare for growth in its rail traffic over the next five years. IRRC’s current traffic levels take the equivalent of 800,000 truckloads of freight off highways each year.
The planned improvements will include construction of a new locomotive maintenance shop, a parts warehouse, a two-story yard office and storage warehouse. In addition, about 4,000 feet of new track will be laid in the yard. To accommodate IRRC’s expansion plans, a permanent closure of about 775 feet of Queen Four Road (CR. 800N) was granted by the county commissioners. INRD currently has about 5,000 feet of usable track between Shanklin Street and Queen Four Road (CR 800). Closing the crossing at Queen Four Road will allow the railroad to expand its holding capacity and be able to handle the large, modern 140-car coal trains that can exceed 8,000 to 9,000 feet in length.
Hoback told the Greene County Daily World that the major reason for the planned expansion at the Jasonville yard is a contract his company has with Peabody Coal Company’s new Bear Run Mine near Dugger, which is the largest surface coal mine east of the Mississippi River. The mine is about 12 miles from the Hiawatha Yard and Hoback expects his company to grow 50 percent in the next five years with commitments to be hauling about 70 percent of the coal mined at Bear Creek. IRRC will spend $17.5 million to build a new five-mile rail spur into the coal mine.
The yard is also located just south of the planned Landree Mine and in close proximity to two other contracted mines, Sunrise Mine near Carlisle and a Vectren Energy Mine near Oaktown.
IRRC spokesman Chris Rund pointed out expanding the Jasonville facility is critical to the rail company.
“It’s the hub of the wheel and will allow the company to modernize its facility and grow the number of local employees,” he said.