Railway teams and maintenance crews have become an increasingly common sight along Columbus highways and nearby interstates. You may question, “Why? We don’t really get many trains around here.” That is due to change in the very near future.

Columbus mayor, Jim Lienhoop, met with Cummins director Tom Linebarger, CSX representatives and Indiana governor, Eric Holcomb, to discuss upcoming renovations to the Louisville-Indianapolis Railway through Columbus being paid for by CSX, Columbus and Cummins collectively.

The Louisville-Indianapolis rail line that runs through Columbus currently carries eight trains to and from either destination. By the twenty-first of August, that is projected to grow two-hundred and seventy-five percent to a total of twenty two trains running through Columbus a day.

Also due to increase is train length by fifty percent, weight by twenty-three thousand pounds and speed by five to ten miles per hour in Columbus city boundaries.

This is not all positive, though.

Traffic delays on account of trains are expected to increase to a minimum of eleven vehicles delayed per hour over eight impacted intersections, so students living near the impacted intersections (listed on the Columbus Railway Project organization website) should plan on being delayed en route to school in the morning.

Work on the railway has already begun and is expected to continue until 2018. Included in the railway work is the addition of a large overpass on state roads forty-six and eleven, anticipated to cost twenty-seven million dollars alone.

CSX, the company that runs the trains through this area, encourages community feedback on the following phone numbers:

Questions specifically related to CSX: 1-877-TellCSX (835-5279)

General questions from the community: (812) 258-9523

Report emergencies on the railroad: (812) 406-4588