Indiana port lets contract for rail loop work

The Ports of Indiana Commission recently approved the award of a $508,000 contract to Tranco Industrial Services Inc. to reconstruct a portion of a rail loop at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor in Portage.

The project involves rehabilitating 2,500 feet of rail and replacing 1,000 ties to help upgrade the port's three-mile rail loop, which was built in 1980. The loop, which connects with an adjacent Norfolk Southern Railway yard, is used to move freight from ships and barges to 30 port-based companies.

The port registers about 13,000 rail cars annually, according to the Ports of Indiana, which also operates the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville and Port of Indiana-Mount Vernon.

After the project is completed, about half of the loop will have been rebuilt since 2010, Ports of Indiana officials said.