According to INDOT, the SRP will lay out Indiana’s vision for the passenger and freight rail system, report existing conditions in the state’s rail system, and identify the highest priority needs for funding within the next several years. While INDOT noted that it does not finance, own, operate, or maintain any rail infrastructure or services, the Highways and Transportation Act of 1977 requires it to prepare a plan.
The plan’s goals, it said, cover:
- “Safety: Help improve and promote the safety of the rail system, as well as raise public awareness of rail safety issues.
- “Economic Development: Support efforts to better connect Indiana with regional, national, and international markets through new or improved transportation service options.
- “Transportation Effectiveness: Reduce bottlenecks and maintain rail system in a state of good repair to improve the reliability and efficiency of railroad transportation, resulting in less congestion and fewer infrastructure repairs.
- “Quality of Life, Environmental, and Social Responsibility: Improve accessibility for all to rail transportation and preserve rail as the most environmentally friendly transportation mode.
- “Innovation: Encourage Indiana’s railroading practice to be as efficient as technology improvements will allow; so as to contribute as much as possible to the Indiana economy.”
According to INDOT, each week hundreds of trainloads of materials and ingredients arrive in Indiana to supply the steelmaking, automotive, aluminum, food and beverage, and other industries. It noted that in 2022 it would have taken 16.5 million trucks to handle the freight that moved via rail in Indiana, Association of American Railroads’ statics show.
Indiana has a 3,650-mile railroad network (see maps, below). The state’s three Class I railroads (CSX, CN, and Norfolk Southern) have main lines in the state that link multiple consuming and manufacturing regions, including routes from the Midwest to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, routes from the Midwest to the Southern U.S., and from Chicago to Eastern Canada. To efficiently move this traffic, INDOT said, railroad terminals in Elkhart, Gary, and Indianapolis sort thousands of freight cars each day arriving from across the Eastern U.S., and then build outbound trains to send the cars onward to their destinations.
Indiana also has 39 short lines, providing first-mile and last-mile rail service to hundreds of manufacturing facilities, grain elevators, industrial parks, and other local employers. Rail-served ports are located on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River.
On the passenger side, Indiana includes Amtrak service and NICTD, which operates between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport in South Bend.
Click here for more information and to submit SRP feedback to the INDOT.
Separately, the Michigan Department of Transportation and North Carolina Department of Transportation are seeking public input on a draft 2026-2030 transportation program and on projects to include in the 2028-2037 transportation plan, respectively.
