Norfolk Southern to serve Indiana coal-loading facility

Hallador Energy subsidiary Sunrise Coal LLC has signed a side-track agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway to construct a truck-to-rail coal loading facility.

Known as the Princeton Loop, the facility will be located 6 miles west of Princeton, Indiana, on Highway 64. When completed in spring 2018, the facility will primarily serve utility coal plants that NS serves, according to a Hallador press release.

The Princeton Loop will be capable of unloading trucks, blending coal, loading 135-car unit trains in four hours and storing more than 4 million tons of coal, company officials said.

Sunrise produces coal in the Illinois Basin for the electric power generation industry. The new facility will open Sunrise's production to new markets, said Hallador President and Chief Executive Officer Brent Bilsland.