The Indianapolis Union Railway Company , is a
terminal railroad
A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It genera ...
operating in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
. It was organized on May 31, 1850, as the Union Track Railway Company by the presidents of the
Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (M&I), the
Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad (TH&R), and the
Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad (I&B) for the purposes of establishing and operating joint terminal facilities in
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
's capital city. The name of the company was changed to its present one on August 12, 1853. The next month, on September 20,
Indianapolis Union Station
The Indianapolis Union Station is an intercity train station in the Wholesale District of Indianapolis, Indiana. The terminal is served by Amtrak's ''Cardinal'' line, passing through Indianapolis three times weekly.
Indianapolis was the first c ...
opened its doors, becoming the first
union railroad station in the world. Since 1999, the company has been owned and operated by
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
.
History
1850 to 1900
The Union Track Railway Company was organized on May 31, 1850. Later that year, of main line track were turned over to the company; from the Peru and Indianapolis Railroad (P&I) and that had been jointly constructed by the three founding lines (the M&I, the TH&R, and the I&B). On November 25, 1852, the company's directors adopted a resolution by which other railroads might be admitted into the group. The
Indiana Central Railway (IndC) and the Lawrenceburg and Upper Mississippi Railroad (L&UM) were so included shortly thereafter.
On August 12, 1853, the company renamed itself the Indianapolis Union Railway Company. On September 20, 1883, a new joint ownership, lease, and operations agreement was reached and entered into by the participating railroads. This date also marked the 30th anniversary of the opening of Indianapolis' original Union Station.
On March 14, 1884, the property of Union Station and of main line track were conveyed to the Indianapolis Union Railway by deed. This included that had been jointly constructed by the three founding lines, and an additional from the P&I. That same day, all properties that had been used but not deeded under a November 19, 1872 agreement were ceded by joint deed to the IU by the following companies: the
Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (successor to the M&I), the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Rail Road (successor to the TH&R), the
Chicago and St. Louis Railway (C&StL), and the
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway
The Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway (CISL&C) was a railroad in the United States.
The CISL&C resulted from the 1880 corporate restructuring of the bankrupt Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad (IC&L). The CISL& ...
(CIStL&C).
On March 2, 1885, the
Indiana General Assembly
The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate. Th ...
passed legislation allowing for the
incorporation of union railroad companies. The Indianapolis Union Railway was incorporated under that act a few days later, on March 25.
By late 1886, the IU had outgrown its facilities. In November of that year, work began on additional facilities that would be completed by 1888. These included a rearranged and enlarged track system, renewed and additional retaining walls, new bridges, a new head house, office building and train shed, and a below-grade crossing for street railway and pedestrian use at Illinois Street. The head house of
Indianapolis Union Station
The Indianapolis Union Station is an intercity train station in the Wholesale District of Indianapolis, Indiana. The terminal is served by Amtrak's ''Cardinal'' line, passing through Indianapolis three times weekly.
Indianapolis was the first c ...
which resulted form this project still stands today.
1900 to 1950
From July 1, 1915, through the end of 1922, another large construction project was undertaken to elevate the tracks over via earthen embankments, retaining walls, and bridges. The 1888 tunnel at Illinois Street was replaced with a level undercrossing, as were eleven former at-grade street crossings. The 1888 head house and office buildings were retained and remodeled. The train shed was replaced with a new one along the now-elevated tracks, while baggage, mail, and express buildings were all replaced. Station facilities at street level, including a new baggage tunnel under one street, were built under the new train shed.
As of December 31, 1927, the following companies were part of the 1883 joint agreement (as amended) that made up the Indianapolis Union Railway:
*
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), through the operations of their
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company (PCC&StL)
*
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company (CCC&StL), also known as the Big Four; controlled by the
New York Central (NYC)
*
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
(B&O), through the operations of their
Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railroad
The Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railroad was established in 1915 as a reorganization of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railway, which in turn had been created in 1902 as a merger of the Indiana, Decatur and Western Railway (I ...
Company (CI&W)
*
Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway Company (CI&L), better known as the Monon Line (MON)
*
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad
The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York, Pennsylvan ...
Company (NYC&StL), better known as the Nickel Plate Road (NKP)
*
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...
Company (IC)
By 1935, the corporate structure of the Indianapolis Union Railroad Company had changed. It was still an Indiana corporation, but ownership of its stock was divided between just two railroads, with the PCC&StL (PRR) holding 60% of the stock and the CCC&StL (NYC) holding the remaining 40%. The other railroads operating in Indianapolis at the time no longer had any equity stake, but continued to pay rent to the IU for their joint use of the company's facilities. At this time, the IU owned Indianapolis' Union Station (and its appurtenances) along with of main line trackage.
[1935 Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports (Volume 46, pages 732, 734-736, and 738)]
1950 to present day
When the
Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the
New York Central to form the
Penn Central Railroad
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...
(PC) in 1968, 100% control of the Indianapolis Union Railway passed to the new entity. Upon Penn Central's bankruptcy in 1970, and subsequent reorganization into
Conrail (CR) by 1976, control of the IU passed once again. Finally, when Conrail was broken up and sold in 1999, the Indianapolis Union Railway became a part of
CSX Transportation, which began operating it the next year. The CSX is the successor to the B&O and the Monon, two of the lines that gave up partial interest in the IU during the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indianapolis Union Railway
Indiana railroads
Transportation in Indianapolis
Transportation in Marion County, Indiana