The Indiana Transportation Museum and officials in Hamilton County have been battling over the future of the 37-mile Nickel Plate Railroad for months. The museum contends the process for choosing a new operator is biased.
Fishers and Noblesville officials announced plans Tuesday morning for a $9 million project that will convert a stretch of the corridor previously used by the Indiana State Fair Train into a paved pedestrian and bicycle trail between the two cities.
Officials have been discussing ways to use or improve the 37-mile Nickel Plate railroad corridor, following a fallout between the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority and the Indiana Transportation Museum, which operated the popular Indiana State Fair train.
The Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau came up with the ongoing Nickel Plate Arts initiative to support and promote arts experiences in an area stretching from Fishers to Tipton.
As efforts drag on to study and fund a commuter rail system using the former Nickel Plate rail line, the group now using the 37-mile corridor to run excursion trains in Hamilton County and to the Indiana State Fair is looking at running its trains farther south—to downtown.
