The Madison Railroad , a division of the City of Madison Port Authority, is a short-line railroad in southeastern Indiana. The Madison Railroad begins along the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

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 , 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 The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

(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 Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

, 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 portion of the original line between North Vernon and

Columbus, Indiana Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissio ...

was eventually dropped from the FSP before

began operations in 1976. The rest of the original line from Columbus north to

Indianapolis 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 Marion ...

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.

References

External links

Madison Railroad website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madison Railroad Indiana railroads Transportation in Jefferson County, Indiana Transportation in Jennings County, Indiana