CN, Indiana railway start building intermodal terminal in Indianapolis

CANADIAN National Railway (CN) and Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) have started construction on an Indianapolis intermodal terminal offering shippers an all-rail service for Asian container cargo.

Once operational CN estimates that containers will arrive in 18-20 days Shanghai and Qingdao and Busan at the INRD terminal when using a first port of call service.

The new facility will be built at INRD's downtown Indianapolis Senate Avenue Terminal and will start to receive empties on June 15 just as an on-site export agricultural container terminal becomes operational later that month.

CN serves the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert in west coast British Columbia from where container shipping lines offer scheduled services covering all major Asian ports.

"This all-rail service will reduce transit times and improve transportation consistency for Indiana importers, making their supply chains more competitive," said CN vice president Jean-Jacques Ruest.

Said INRD founder and CEO Tom Hoback: "This is a great day for Indianapolis-area importers and exporters. Anyone who drives Interstate 65 between Indianapolis and Chicago knows what a bottleneck it is. CN-INRD intermodal service will offer a more reliable, consistent and environmentally-friendly movement of goods that is less susceptible to costly weather and congestion delays."