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Yesterday, Indiana Rail Road Co. (INRD) and Indiana Department of Transportation officials broke ground for a $6 million locomotive maintenance facility in Jasonville, Ind.
 
To be located at INRD’s Hiawatha Yard, the facility is part of the 500-mile regional’s record capital spending budget for 2011. The facility will replace a “cramped, century-old building designed in the steam locomotive era,” and feature state-of-the-art environmental systems, a large parts warehouse and overhead cranes, said INRD President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Hoback in a prepared statement.

The shop will enable a 20-person mechanical force to perform work ranging from routine maintenance to heavy overhauls, and allow up to four of INRD’s 4,300-horsepower heavy-haul locomotives to be serviced simultaneously in a climate-controlled environment, he said. The facility “will greatly enhance operational efficiency while providing our mechanical team with a first-class working environment," said Hoback.

“This is a far more advanced and elaborate facility than is typically found on a railroad our size,” he added.
 
INRD has budgeted $21 million for capex improvements in 2011 — the railroad’s 25th year of operation — and an additional $44 million is slated for 2012 to 2015 as part of a five-year plan.