Major step is taken, leading to the removal of Nickel Plate rail tracks

Hoosier Heritage Port Authority President David George explains the bids received to remove Nick Plate rail line tracks

The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority acted Monday night to accept a bid from A&K Railroad Materials that would remove a large portion of the Nickel Plate railroad tracks, roughly 22 miles, running along Fishers and Noblesville.  The bid would pay the Authority just over $289,000 to remove the railroad tracks and sell the material as scrap.

Authority President David George, who also serves on the Fishers City Council, said 5 bids were submitted and one was late.  The bid From A&K was judged the best bid and was passed by a vote of the Authority members.

The bid now goes for approval to the three owners of the Nickel Plate rail line – Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County.  All three owners must approve for the bid to become official.   The Board of Public Works and Safety, consisting of Mayor Scott Fadness and his two appointees, will vote on the bid for Fishers.

George said once all the approvals are complete, A&K is ready to begin removing the rails in 30 days.

As of the Monday night meeting, the bids were not available online, but George said the bidding paperwork will be available Tuesday morning (7.30) at this link.

The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority is made up of appointees from the three governmental entities owning the Nickel Plate rail line – Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County.

17 thoughts on “Major step is taken, leading to the removal of Nickel Plate rail tracks

  1. These elected officials WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE as I’m hearing of a major investigation regarding the removal of a 185 year old historical asset, and all officials involved.

    1. Blah, blah, blah.

      There is no “major investigation” The Surface Transportation Board has already ruled on the abandonment of the line and the Post Authority has full legal right to remove the tracks.

  2. As a (relatively) new Fishers resident, I admit to being baffled by the controversy. I would think removing the tracks from an unused and deteriorating rail line, and replacing them with trails and recreational areas that residents could and would use, would be the proper civic-minded thing for the community to do. I would like to read a reasoned argument on both sides of what seems to be a surprisingly contentious issue. If the railroad isn’t likely to ever be a civic asset again, why not take it out and replace it with something that is going to improve the community? I have little patience with “but it’s always been that way.” Where can I read factual arguments on both sides?

    1. Molly the rails are unused because the local governments stopped them from being used. It’s a long story, but the tracks were safe to use and were being used, but Mayor Fadness came up with his multi-million dollar trail plan and decided that the trains had to go.

      1. Be sure you provide her with the whole story.

        A majority of Fishers residents (at least those who voted), agree with the Mayor’s decision and they overwhelmingly re-elected him instead of the pro-rail line candidate.

  3. Greg Purvis is correct. We have often heard and read that the reason for removing the railroad is because it has not been used for many years (since December 26, 2015, to be precise). What the line’s owners (Fishers, Noblesville and Hamilton County) and their expensive attorney never reveal or acknowledge is the fact that the reason no trains have operated south of Noblesville since then is because they have deliberately prevented it from happening. They hide behind a false claim (proven false by Federal Railroad Administration track inspection and maintenance records for this line) that the tracks are unsafe to operate on, which they are not. They are simply “in the way” of developers big plans for the real estate just north of 96th Street east of the airport.

  4. Be sure you provide her with the whole story.

    A majority of Fishers residents (at least those who voted), agree with the Mayor’s decision and they overwhelmingly re-elected him instead of the pro-rail line candidate.

  5. Dan, be sure you provide them with the full story. The voter turnout was the smallest in the towns history since Fadness was first elected. The other candidates effort was a token effort at best. Further, why does Fishers get to decide what happens to a line that traverse’s far outside it’s town borders? Studys have shown this line to be more than appropriate for a rail with trail, however developers padding of officials pockets and personal gain, of which there is amble proof to support, has yet again reared it’s ugly head. To say people voted Fadness back in merely because they want a “trail”, really just an expensive sidewalk, is preposterous on the face off it. If Fishers wants a trail for the 4 miles thru town this line traverse’s that’s great, they just should be required to put it next to the line, which has been done on numerous other section’s along this railroad. My handicapped neighbor would like to know how this “trail” will benefit her in any way? The short answer is it will not.

    1. Ok, let’s agree to disagee.

      Bottom line, the rails are going to get removed and will never return. In place of the rails, there will be a new recreation trail.

      Getting on-line and posting complaints or beating the drum of how corrupt the system is, will not change the fact that the Nickel Plate line will be history in a couple of months.

      It never ceases to amaze me how much time and effort people put into complaining about this issue. There are much bigger issues in this world to be concerned with then where your choo-choo train gets to operate.

    2. Voter turnout aside, of those residents who voted, the removal of the Nickel Plate was not an issue which concerned voters enough to remove Fadness from office. No where in my comment did I say residents voted for Fadness because they wanted a trail, residents (those who voted) simply did not feel it was an important enough issue to vote for change.
      Regarding your handicapped neighbor……not all city projects are going to help everyone. Some residents will benefit and some will not. That is the case with most projects.

      1. Mr. Beeler, are you at all concerned that city officials literally have no idea what this project is going to cost to build? And no idea of the ongoing costs after it is built? They are writing a multi-million dollar blank check. Whether you like the idea of preserving the rail line as a transit corridor or not (an irreplaceable asset) the fiscally irresponsible nature of spending an unlimited amount of money “just because” boggles my mind. I have yet to hear a compelling reason why to prevent an asset from being viable and writing this blank check makes sense to anyone but a real estate speculator.

        1. There has also not been a compelling explanation proving the rail line was a viable asset.
          Yes, they operated tourist trains on the line, but that provided no real economic benefit to the City of Fishers. In any given year, these trains only ran in Fishers for four weeks. Two weeks taking riders to the state fair and two weeks taking riders to Noblesville on the Santa Train. All other trains originated in Forest Park (Noblesville) and went north.
          The Indiana Transportation Museum had a study conducted 5 or 6 years ago which showed the potential for economic benefit for Hamilton County, but the museum never took the necessary actions to develop that potential.
          While many area residents would like to see the corridor be further developed and utilized (as a rail line), history and reality shows it hasn’t happened and there is no organization willing and / or capable of doing so.

  6. Ok, lets get the facts straight, there was a train that left Fishers every Friday and Saturday evening for over 25 years, this combined with the incredibly popular Polar Express and Fairtrain means this line saw on average nearly 1 million paying customers in any given year, and while the “management” team at ITM was pathetic at best, and frankly they deserved exactly what they got, the fact remains this line was a major money maker and could have been even more so had it not been for the shortsighted, misguided hands the line fell into, which is the scam called The Hoosier Heritage Port Authority which was created TO SAVE the line from abandonment.The railroad was self sustaining without ANY taxpayer dollars whatsoever. No one with a shred of common sense would believe that these same people who ride the train would be out wandering aimlessly on a paved strip of asphalt, in the rain and snow no less, not to mention the crime these railtrails bring. We have friends who live along the Monon trail and crime is rampant and a regular occurrence. How much crime happens on the railroad as it is now? None! The mere fact that the blight and massive crime that is Indianapolis will now have a direct path to everyone’s backyards and doorsteps where our precious children are playing makes myself and all our neighbors who have to live along this debacle sick to our stomachs. Isn’t it interesting how many homes have suddenly come up for sale along this unwanted soon to be linear crime zone. We don’t want another Delphi tragedy in our neighborhood. The mayor has ignored the wishes of those of us in our neighborhood who will now have to deal with this crime on a constant and regular basis, and he should be ashamed of himself for putting our precious children at risk of complete and total strangers wandering aimlessly at all hours of the day and night on who knows what illegal substance. Shame on you Scott Fadness!

    1. “the blight and massive crime that is Indianapolis will now have a direct path to everyone’s backyards and doorsteps” Wow. I just really am not sure what to say to this. If criminals want to come to Fishers, there are currently much easier ways for them to do it than walking, jogging, biking up a trail. Those things could also be done on the already existing tracks that are there. Plus, the trail will end of 96th St for many years until if/when Indianapolis decides to extend it. I know they’ve expressed interest but they don’t have any plans to actually do it this point.

      As for homes for sale along the tracks, I just did a MIBOR search and found 1 house in all of Fishers for sale and it isn’t directly on the tracks but a couple houses down. When I was looking for a house here many years ago, long before the idea of a trail, the tracks running behind a house I looked at actually kept me away from it especially as the fair train went by while I was looking at the house. So I don’t think they were exactly a selling point. Abandoned tracks, I would think, are even worse.

      As for “strangers wandering aimlessly at all hours of the day and night on who knows what illegal substance” I’m not sure what Fishers you live in but this stuff doesn’t seem to happen today on the paved pathways that already exist. I can’t imagine suddenly having a new paved pathway is going to change that. This seems to be one of the most “doom and gloom” type arguments against the trail that I’ve ever seen.

  7. So when will the stop signs/crossing signs come down?!?! Every morning I have to wait for school buses who have to stop and wait and wait and wait — and there aren’t even tracks in the ground now!!

    1. Checked with the city on this….federal officials have signed-off on removing the stop signs, but the state has not. Also, all the stop signs may not be removed for safety reasons. Here is part of the message I received from the city – ” Not all crossings will have stop signs removed, only those with at-grade crossings. The others will be removed as construction occurs at those intersections. This is primarily due to vehicular safety/grade of the crossings.”

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