Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad (IC, ICRR, ICG) was an American railway company. Due to the merger with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, the company was named 1972-1988 Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. The company was bought in 1998 by the Canadian National Railway. Their two main routes ran from Chicago to New Orleans and to Sioux Falls and Omaha (Nebraska ). A famous passenger train was the City of New Orleans on the route Chicago - New Orleans, the Steve Goodman song with the same name created a lasting memory. However, the song was known only in the version of Arlo Guthrie. Legendary to date was in 1900 a daring Aufholfahrt of ICRR - engine driver Casey Jones, which led to a disaster, with Jones, however, could prevent major loss of life through self-sacrifice.
History
Development to 1945
The IC was established with support from the Illinois General Assembly on 10 February 1851 at a distance of Cairo at the mouth of the Ohio River into the Mississippi River to Centralia and from there to Galena with two branches on the border of Illinois / Iowa / Wisconsin and to build to Chicago. The construction of the railway in 1850 was supported by the grant of land rights by President Millard Fillmore. With the completion of the line 1856 Chicago now had a connection to the Mississippi and the company built a steamboat line from Cairo to New Orleans.
From New Orleans from 1858, the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railway from New Orleans via Jackson ( Mississippi) to Canton (Mississippi) and 1860, the Mississippi Central Railway from Canton to Jackson ( Tennessee) were completed. The Illinois Central completed in 1873 the section from Jackson to Cairo and was the first time a continuous north-south rail link - but for now only sea passage across the Mississippi River in Cairo - offer. The following year, the Illinois Central took over the two companies. The routes to the south of Cairo had to 1881 is common in the southern states broad gauge of 1,524 mm (5 foot). The two parts of the Illinois Central in 1889 were associated with the construction of a Mississippi bridge in Cairo.
From the 1870s, the railways began to move into the fertile areas of the Yazoo Delta on the western edge of the state of Mississippi. The Illinois Central founded for this purpose in 1882 the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad to build by Jackson from the West a distance. In the meantime, carried out by the rival Louisville, New Orlans & Texas Railroad to build a line between Memphis and New Orleans via Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. This company was supported by Collis P. Huntington, who wanted to establish a connection between his Railways Southern Pacific Railroad and Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad (Memphis - Louisville ). This project was completed in 1884 and withdrawn through the purchase of the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad between Memphis and Grenada ( Mississippi) at first traffic from the IC. The announced competition with the Illinois Central failed to materialize, as Huntington's empire was now in financial difficulties. In this situation, the Illinois Central acquired these routes and merged it with the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad. Thus, the route network by 28% and the presence of the Illinois Central in the south of the United States extended.
From Galena, the line was extended across the Mississippi River out to Iowa, reaching 1870 Sioux City on the Missouri River. Under the leadership of EH Harriman began in the 1880s, a further expansion to the west. So the Chicago, Madison & Northern Railroad was formed to connect Chicago to Centralia - Galena route to Freeport (Illinois ) and Madison (Wisconsin ) and Dodgeville (Wisconsin ) to produce. The Illinois Central also built routes to Cedar Rapids, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Omaha Nebraska.
1893 saw the acquisition of the Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad in 1895 and the construction of a route to St. Louis. 1906 Indianapolis and 1908 was Birmingham (Alabama ) connected to the grid. In 1909 she acquired control of the Central of Georgia Railway. 1926, the transport line was electrified in Chicago and in 1928 was the construction of a Abkürzungssstrecke between Edgewood (Illinois ) and Fulton (Kentucky), to bypass the bottleneck in Cairo.
The period after the Second World War
After the 2nd World War the society began to simplify its corporate structure. Until the late 1950s, the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad and the Gulf & Ship Iceland Railroad, the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans were fully integrated; Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern; Tremont & Gulf; Peabody Short Line; Louisiana Midland and the western part of the Tennessee Central acquired.
On August 10, 1972, the Illinois Central and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad merged (GM & O ) for the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. At the same time, some smaller companies have been acquired, the Columbus & Greenville, the bonhomie & Hattiesburg Southern and the Fernwood, Columbia & Gulf. The Illinois Central Gulf possessed by these acquisitions in places eight parallel north-south routes. Only near Fulton (Kentucky ) was a Engpunkt in the route network. In addition there were eight east-west routes:
- Chicago -Omaha and Sioux City
- Springfield ( Illinois), Kansas City (Missouri )
- Indianapolis - Effingham (Illinois )
- Louisville - Paducah (Kentucky)
- Birmingham ( Alabama), Memphis ( Tennessee)
- Montgomery (Alabama ) Greenville ( Missouri)
- Meridian (Mississippi ) Shreveport ( Louisiana)
- Mobile ( Alabama ) Natchez (Mississippi)
The road to the North-South railway
The Illinois Central Gulf was of the opinion that this east-west routes not fit into the corporate concept of a north-south railway. In addition, the connections to the adjacent railway companies were not present to the same extent as they were needed for a profitable business. Therefore, not required distances to sell the company began. It emerged from these sales, several new regional railway companies:
On so-called Short Lines also several routes were sold 1974-1990.
These reductions were related not only to distances but also on tracks and rolling stock. Thus, the largest part of the route between Chicago and New Orleans was twofold. The Illinois Central removed a track and introduced a computerized train control, also needed cars were not scrapped and sold surplus locomotives.
On February 29, 1988, the company named again to Illinois Central Railroad, as most of the acquired through the merger with the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio tracks were again repelled. The end of 1988, the railway company from its parent Whitman Corporation (formerly IC Industries) was sold. In August 1989, became the Prospect Group, formerly owner of MidSouth Rail Corporation, the control of the company. 1990 tried unsuccessfully to acquire the MidSouth Illinois Central. 1994, a merger with the Kansas City Southern was considered. In order to achieve a higher volume of traffic, acquired the Illinois Central in June 1996, the Chicago, Central & Pacific for a price of $ 157 million.
In February 1998, the beginning of the 1990s privatized Canadian National Railway, the Illinois Central Railroad acquired.
Passenger
The Illinois Central was on the main axes between Chicago and New Orleans, and between Chicago and St. Louis, a major provider of passenger transport services. There were also long-distance trains between Chicago and Omaha set up, but these never reached the importance of the first two. The largest passenger station was the Central Station in the 12th Street east of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Through the south-north course of the main line from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, the web has played a major role during the African-American Great Migration in the 1920s.
The main train was the Panama Limited, a first-class night train from Pullman cars between Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans. As a result of the losses that occurred through the operation of the train, he was in 1967 combined with a pure Sitzwagenzug called Magnolia Star. On June 1, 1971 Amtrak took over the operation of the train, but changed after ten years the name for marketing reasons for the benefit of up to 1971 daytime trains running current polyline City of New Orleans, who had attained by the eponymous song now celebrity. On the route wrong even more important long-distance trains such as the Creole, or Louisiane. Between Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis itself, however, the Green Diamond was the most important train. Other important long-distance trains were the Hawkeye, who drove daily between Chicago and Sioux City, and the City of Miami, the. Every other day from Chicago to Miami on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which ran Central of Georgia Railway and the Florida East Coast Railway
The transport was mainly the suburban Chicago important which connected the stations along South Michigan Avenue with the suburbs of the metropolis and was adopted by METRA.
After 1971 Amtrak went next to the Panama Limited nor the Shawnee between Chicago and Carbondale (Illinois ) over the tracks of the Illinois Central. Today, in addition to the City of New Orleans of the Illini and Saluki are operated daily between Chicago and Carbondale. Another passenger corridor for Illinois is planned for the former Blackhawk route between Chicago, Rockford and Dubuque (Iowa). The project study is based on costs of between 32 million and 55 million dollars each depending on the choice. In operation each year an additional 5 million would be spent on government grants. The operation is to be included in 2014 on the now belonging to Canadian National Railways.