CN expanding yard in Gary, Ind.
Canadian National Railway Co. announced plans Wednesday to spend $165 million to expand its Kirk Yard in Gary, Ind., and relocate its Chicago area locomotive repair shop to an upgraded freight car classification facility in Northwest Indiana.
CN said the project will increase Kirk Yard’s processing capacity to 2,500 cars per day from 1,500 today. Additional classification tracks, along with more receiving and departure tracks, will allow the yard to handle longer and more efficient trains, improve interchange with other railroads, and consolidate CN’s switching operations in the Chicago area at a single primary yard.
CN acquired the 350-acre yard as part of its purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway in 2009. With Kirk Yard as the primary classification yard in the Chicago area, CN’s rail satellite operations around Chicago in Markham, Schiller Park, Hawthorne, Glenn and Joliet yards will continue to be focused on local pickup and delivery of freight cars to customers.