Madison Railroad
The Madison Railroad (reporting mark CMPA), a division of the City of Madison Port Authority, is a 26-mile (42 km) short-line railroad in southeastern Indiana. The Madison Railroad begins along the Ohio River in the western part of the city of Madison and from there runs generally northwest through Jefferson County, then crosses into Jennings County and terminates near its intersection with the CSX line in North Vernon.
History
The roadbed on which the Madison Railroad operates traces its history back to some of the earliest railway companies in Indiana history. First established by the Madison, Indianapolis and Lafayette Railroad in 1843 (181 years ago) (1843), the line eventually became part of the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad by 1866. In 1890, the JM&I was part of a merger creating the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which was controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Passing down through various PPR subsidiaries, it ended up getting caught up in eventual successor Penn Central's 1970 bankruptcy.
The portion of track between North Vernon and Madison was not included in the 1975 Final System Plan (FSP) for Conrail, which was to take over the PC and several other bankrupt railways in 1976. Facing the complete loss of rail access to Madison, that city's port authority stepped in and eventually purchased that section of the line. They now continue to operate on it as the Madison Railroad.
A 16.8-mile (27.0 km) portion of the original line between North Vernon and Columbus, Indiana was eventually dropped from the FSP before Conrail began operations in 1976.[1] The rest of the original line from Columbus north to Indianapolis is now owned by the Louisville and Indiana Railroad (LIRC), which bought it from Conrail in March 1994.
NASA Railroad's third switcher was delivered to Madison Railroad after it discontinued operations in 2015.[2]
References
- ^ October 2007 Indiana Railroad Abandonments document from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT)
- ^ "NASA Railroad reaches the end of its line". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
External links
- Madison Railroad website
- Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Freight Railroads Operating in Indiana by Class: 2000
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- e
- Bee Line Railroad
- Big 4 Terminal Railroad
- Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad
- Central Indiana and Western Railroad
- Central Railroad of Indianapolis
- Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad
- Central Railroad of Indiana
- Chesapeake and Indiana Railroad
- C&NC Railroad
- Chicago SouthShore and South Bend Railroad
- CSX Transportation
- Dubois County Railroad
- Evansville Western Railway
- Elkhart and Western Railroad
- Fulton County Railroad
- Gary Railway
- Grand Trunk Western Railroad
- Honey Creek Railroad
- Hoosier Southern Railroad
- Indian Creek Railroad
- Indiana Eastern Railroad
- Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad
- Indiana Northeastern Railroad
- Indiana Rail Road
- Indiana and Ohio Railway
- Indiana Southern Railroad
- Indiana Southwestern Railway
- Indianapolis Union Railway
- Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad
- Kendallville Terminal Railway
- Logansport and Eel River Short-Line Company
- Louisville and Indiana Railroad
- Lake Michigan and Indiana Railroad
- Lucas Oil Rail Line
- Madison Railroad
- MG Rail, Inc.
- Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railroad
- Norfolk Southern Railway
- Ohio Valley Railroad
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Western Ohio Lines
- South Chicago and Indiana Harbor Railway
- Squaw Creek Southern Railroad
- Southern Indiana Railway
- Soo Line Railroad
- Southwind Shortline Railroad
- Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway
- U S Rail Corporation
- Vermilion Valley Railroad
- Wabash Central Railroad
- Winamac Southern Railway
- See also: Former carriers in Indiana
- List of United States railroads by political division