The is a
Class III Railroad that operates freight service between
Indianapolis, Indiana and
Louisville, Kentucky , with a major yard and maintenance shop in
Jeffersonville, Indiana .
The 106-mile (171 km) line was purchased from
Conrail in March
1994 . Previous to Conrail, the line was owned by
Penn Central , and before that, the
Pennsylvania Railroad . It serves the cities of
Franklin ,
Sellersburg ,
Seymour and
Columbus, Indiana , and also serves the former
Clark Maritime Center , now Port of Indiana, Jeffersonville. In Louisville, the LIRC interchanges with the
Paducah And Louisville Railway ,
CSX Transportation and the
Indiana Rail Road , former
Canadian Pacific Railway (via trackage rights over CSX's former
Monon line). Traffic from them mostly is Potash. In Indianapolis, the line interchanges with
CSX Transportation at Avon Yard approximately 7 miles west of the Circle City.
The LIRC was briefly home to the
Amtrak Passenger Train ''
Kentucky Cardinal ,'' a failed attempt to capture express business from the
United Parcel Service air hub in Louisville. Inconvenient departure and arrival times, coupled with the prevailing 30-
Mph (50
Km/h ) speed limit on the LIRC, led to the train's demise in
2003 . The former express facility is now run by
A&R Transport , which is a plastics transload facility. Plastics make up the majority of the online business with the railroad.
CSX negotiated trackage rights over portions of the LIRC in
2004 . This enabled CSX to abandon a portion of former
Baltimore And Ohio Railroad trackage from
New Albany, Indiana to Jeffersonville, and access the remainder of the line to
Charlestown, Indiana and the former Indiana Ammunition Plant using LIRC trackage over its
Ohio River bridge. Additionally, CSX has used rights over the LIRC as far north as Seymour, where it connects with another former B&O line from
Cincinnati, Ohio to
St. Louis, Missouri . These trains have been used to bypass a congested CSX line directly between Cincinnati and Louisville.
The line's power includes GP39-2, GP38-2, and GP11's. There also is a GP16 on the property.
Road trains are:
CA: Day Train from Columbus to Avon Yard and back
CJ: Night train from Columbus to Jeffersonville and back.
Columbus Local: Runs from Columbus and does North work. Also switches industries on the old
Madison Railroad line in South Columbus. Most notable is the large
Amcor P.E.T. Packaging facility in
Franklin, Indiana .
JS3- Jeffersonville Yard Switcher. Switches inbound and outbound CJ train. Builds NS cut for the Transfer later in the day. Builds CSXT cut that their local train picks up.
Transfer: Which runs from Jeff Yard to
Clark Maritime Center ,
Norfolk Southern Railway interchange in
Louisville, Kentucky , . Also does industry work in Louisville.
Colgate: Switches industries on the Dutch Lane Runner in Jeffersonville.
