Is consensus and a plan forward for the Nickel Plate Railroad possible in the near future? It seems possible, but by no means certain.
The Hamilton County Council now has a “work session” scheduled for March 1 in advance of their regular monthly meeting. The idea is to bring together the parties who have a stake in the future of the railroad.
Since earlier in this column I called the Nickel Plate situation a case of having too many Indians and perhaps no chief to lead them, we’ll call the March 1 meeting a pow wow.
A full pow wow would involve representatives of the Port Authority which owns the railroad, the county council, county commissioners, cities of Noblesville and Fishers, the County Tourism Bureau, Transportation Museum, businessmen or officials from Cicero, Arcadia and Atlanta, and perhaps even Tipton County economic interests.
The transportation museum operated excursion trains on the Nickel Plate for a quarter century. But, that came to an end last year when safety concerns were raised and resulted in the port authority suspending the museum’s operation. The museum has been unable to meet the cost of making safety improvements, so the port authority is considering issuing a request for proposals from organizations interested in operating the 165 year old track.
Hopefully, the pow wow might reach agreement on a plan to get trains back on the tracks after a year of having no trains allowed. Or, agreement might be reached on a plan, favored by some, to tear up the tracks and convert the rail bed to a pedestrian trail similar to the Monon. Or, a combination of both in which a trail would run along side the railroad.
There is no doubt any of these options would cost money, but there is also no doubt that there is lots of money in Hamilton County. A big question might be which group wants to put up the needed money or shares of it.
There is, of course, one other option. That is to do nothing. Lets hope that’s not the one chosen.