Indianapolis Union Railway Company

The Indianapolis Union Railway Company was founded in the 1850s. The company owned and maintained the Indianapolis Union Station and in 1882 leased the railway equipment, track, and facilities of the Indianapolis Belt Railroad and Stock Yards Company. Since its creation this railroad entity was for the purpose of easing and streamlining the exchange of freight and passengers between the different railroad companies that ran through Indianapolis. In April of 1976 the ownership of IURC was transferred from Penn Central to Conrail.

The first movement by the railroads entering Indianapolis to provide a cooperative working arrangement took form in the organization of the Union Track Railway Company, an unincorporated company, by the Presidents of the Madison and Indianapolis, The Terre Haute and Richmond and the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad Companies, at a meeting held May 31, 1850. In the absence of any general law under which the Company was willing to incorporate, the real estate purchased and the right-of-way acquired were taken in the names of the individual companies mentioned above. By resolution of the Board of Directors of August 12, 1853, the name of the Company was changed to The Indianapolis Union Railway Company.

On March 25, 1885, the then five proprietary companies executed an acceptance of the general law of Indiana approved March 2, 1885, in regard to the incorporation of union railway companies, and thereby became a corporation of the State of Indiana. The Indianapolis Union Railway Company owns a railroad 1.72 miles in length and a Union Depot, and operates, under lease, the railroad of The Belt Railroad and Stock Yards Company, a belt line 14.16 miles in length, at Indianapolis, Indiana. The stock of the Indianapolis Union Railway Company, represented by Certificates of Ownership was owned 60% by Pennsylvania Railroad interests and 40% by New York Central System.

The present Indianapolis Union Station was opened in October 1888. Most of the company's trackage was elevated to remove grade crossings between 1914 and 1931. The trackage was sold to the Consolidated Rail Corporation in 1976. As of 1980 the Indianapolis Union Railway Company was an inactive subsidiary of the Penn Central Corporation.