County looks to clear the way for a new freight rail terminal near New Carlisle
More than 10 years after buying the land, a regional company is taking steps toward one day building a freight rail terminal just east of New Carlisle.
It would seize on the current growth of industry in western St. Joseph County, where it would ship materials in and out along the South Shore line. The tracks mostly head west.
Local officials say the freight trains would alleviate growth in truck traffic.
But before it could market and land customers — to build the terminal — a representative for the owner said that it needs some clearances from the county.
Illinois Indiana Development Co. operates the Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, which is separate from the more familiar South Shore passenger line. The company is asking the county to rezone four of its seven parcels of land from agricultural to industrial use. The other three are already zoned industrial.
The company had bought the land between 2011 and 2012.
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This is just north of the Cleveland-Cliffs cold-rolled steel plant, which once was known as I/N Tek and I/N Kote, and its Norfolk Southern railyard.
The 120-acre site runs north from the South Shore tracks to U.S. 20 and is bordered to the east by Smilax Road and the Alkegen plant (formerly Unifrax), which makes technology for lithium-ion batteries.
The company also seeks the county’s approval for a special use to establish a rail switching yard. The use fits with the restrictions of the overlay district for the Indiana Enterprise Center, in which it sits, county planner Shawn Klein told the Area Plan Commission.
On May 21, the county’s Area Plan Commission voted 7-0 to give favorable recommendations to both the rezoning and the special use. On May 28, the county council’s Land Use Planning Committee also voted to give both matters a favorable recommendation — passing them on to the full council for a final vote on June 11.
Close access to rail lines is considered one of the assets of the IEC, where Amazon Web Services and General Motors/Samsung SDI are building.
Trucks would have access to the rail terminal via U.S. 20 and Smilax Road, Klein said.
Some who came to the APC meeting questioned whether the rail terminal could grow into a much larger, more disruptive “intermodal” operation with lots of truck traffic.
That won’t be possible, countered George Lepeniotis, with the local firm Krieg Devault, which represents the rail company. He said that the overhead electrical lines of the South Shore don’t allow enough room for train cars with containers, which he said are typical of larger railroad lines.
The company agrees to plant a buffer of evergreens or other thick vegetation along those roads and other adjoining properties, Klein said.
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Most of the activity, he added, would be toward the southern end of the property, closer to the rail lines than to U.S. 20.
The idea of a train terminal brought up questions about increased truck traffic, too. When asked if the county plans to improve Smilax, Bill Schalliol, the county’s executive director of economic development, said that there have been conversations about it — including possibly upgrading it from asphalt to concrete — but the county is looking at other factors for now.
Lepeniotis said the company hasn’t yet secured any customers who’d use the rail yard. In fact, he said, it’s “very hard” to market the rail yard to potential customers without the industrial zoning.
With the rail terminal, he said, “This is how the South Shore can survive.”
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Shore line terminal to serve freight of New Carlisle industry
