Hoosier State (train)

Hoosier State
The Hoosier State northbound in Indiana in 2011.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Operating
First service	1 October 1980
Current operator(s)	Amtrak
Ridership	119 per train 37,249 total (FY11)[1]
Route
Start	Chicago
Stops	4
End	Indianapolis
Distance travelled	196 miles (315 km)
Service frequency	Quad-weekly
Train number(s)	850/851
Technical
Track owner(s)	CSXT, UP, BRC Metra, NS
Route map Legend Dist. Station 0 mi Chicago Illinois/Indiana border 29 mi  47 km  Dyer 75 mi  121 km  Rensselaer 122 mi  196 km  Lafayette 149 mi  240 km  Crawfordsville 196 mi  315 km  Indianapolis

The Hoosier State is an Amtrak passenger train that provides service on a 196-mile (315 km) route from Chicago to Indianapolis. It runs on the four days each week that the Cardinal does not run (departs Chicago Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; departs Indianapolis Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). This gives the Chicago-to-Indianapolis market daily rail service. Financial stresses caused worries of a discontinuation, but a last minute deal was reached to transfer operation to Iowa Pacific Railway in April 2015, less than a month before a scheduled discontinuation.

During fiscal year (FY) 2011, the Hoosier State carried approximately 37,000 passengers, a 10.9% increase over FY2010. During FY2011, the train had a total revenue of $836,057, an increase of 5% over FY2010.^[1]

History

Prior to Amtrak, the Chicago-Indianapolis market was served by several daily trains, the Pennsylvania Railroad's South Wind and Kentuckian, and the New York Central's James Whitcomb Riley, Indianapolis Special, and Sycamore. With the creation of Amtrak, riders between the Hoosier State's capital and the Windy City were served by the South Wind and the George Washington/James Whitcomb Riley.^[2] However, with Penn Central's financial instability, track maintenance was rare, and Amtrak shifted both trains to other routes through Indiana, leaving Indianapolis to be served by the National Limited, which ran between New York and Kansas City.

The National Limited's discontinuance in 1979 severed Indianapolis from the national rail network, and isolated Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops in the Indianapolis suburb of Beech Grove. The passenger carrier had been using the National Limited to ferry railroad cars to and from its shops; it was forced to run special trains to Indianapolis instead.^[2]

The Hoosier State entered service on October 1, 1980. On April 27, 1986, the Cardinal was rerouted to use the same tracks as the Hoosier State between Chicago and Indianapolis, and began running on days the Cardinal did not operate. The Hoosier State was restored to daily operation on a separate schedule from the Cardinal on October 25, 1987.^[3] But funding cuts led to its discontinuance on September 8, 1995 while the Cardinal continued tri-weekly operation between Chicago, Indianapolis and the East Coast. Amtrak restored the Hoosier State on July 19, 1998, as a tri-, later quad-weekly train.^[4]

From December 17, 1999, to July 4, 2003, the Hoosier State was extended south from Indianapolis to Louisville, Kentucky, and renamed the Kentucky Cardinal. After the discontinuance of the Kentucky Cardinal the Hoosier State returned to operating four days a week in tandem with the Cardinal.

Potential discontinuance

On October 16, 2008, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) was signed into law which required the operating and capital costs of providing intercity rail passenger service on Amtrak routes of not more than 750 miles, be born by the affected state or states within five years.^[5][6] At a length of 196 miles (315 km), the Hoosier State is one of the routes affected by this provision of PRIIA. The State of Indiana became responsible for funding the Hoosier State beginning on October 1, 2013. Faced with termination of a service that would have left Chicago to Indianapolis with tri-weekly train service, state and local officials arrived at a deal to share the US$3,000,000 annual cost of the service, becoming the last state in the nation to arrive at a deal to save its short-distance train line on October 15, 2013.^[7][8]

Indiana sought alternatives to Amtrak operation and on June 24, 2014 selected Corridor Capitol, a Chicago-based rail passenger services development company, as its preferred vendor to manage and operate the service. Planning was underway for the company to take over the service as early as October 1, 2014, however Corridor Capitol did not meet that deadline and Indiana DOT discontinued negotiations with the company in November 2014.^[9] Amtrak continued to operate the train service under short-term contract extensions while the state considers alternative vendors.

On March 6, 2015, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced that the Hoosier State would discontinue service on April 1, 2015. The decision was made due to regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration that would require the state of Indiana to act as a rail carrier, despite the state owning no tracks or trains; that requirement would, according to INDOT, increase the cost to Indiana taxpayers for no additional benefit.^[10][11] After Indiana appealed to the FRA, the train's operation was extended to April 30.^[12] On 6 April 2015, INDOT reached and agreement with Iowa Pacific Railway to take over the route on a temporary basis and keep it running, while a long term deal is worked out.^[13][14] Iowa Pacific outlined plans to expand service to multiple trips a day and improve speeds reducing the time between Chicago and Indianapolis from the current 3 hours to 2 hours.

Route details

The Hoosier State operates over Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad, Metra, and Norfolk Southern trackage:

• CSX Indianapolis Subdivision, Indianapolis Terminal Subdivision, Crawfordsville Branch Subdivision, Monon Subdivision, and Eldson Subdivision Indianapolis to Thornton
• UP Villa Grove Subdivision, Thornton to 80th Street
• BRC, 80th Street Interlocking
• Metra SouthWest Service, 80th Street to 21st Street.
• NS Chicago Line, CP518 to 21st Street.

Train consist

The Hoosier State generally operates with two coaches, generally Horizon equipment, but occasionally supplemented by Amfleet cars. Power is a General Electric Genesis P42DC locomotive. There are no food-service cars, and the train offers only coach-class service.^[15] However, the train often carries cars to and from Amtrak's repair facility at Beech Grove.

In 2015 Iowa Pacific Holdings proposed to run the train with the ex-Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Big Dome Summit View and two passenger cars, with power provided by a fleet of three GP40FH-2 diesel locomotives.^[16]

Station stops

References

References

• Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34705-X. OCLC 61499942. 
• Schafer, Mike (1991). All Aboard Amtrak: 1971-1991. Piscataway, NJ: Railpace. ISBN 0-9621-5414-8. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoosier State (train).

• "Cardinal / Hoosier State". Amtrak. Retrieved 5 September 2011.