Indianapolis Union Railway operated Union Station, with control of trackage from College Ave. to the east, and West St. to the west. IU Tower, east of the station, controlled the interlockings. In 1853, Indianapolis became the first major city to establish a Union Station. Which might explain why nearly every railroad serving Indianapolis converged immediately upon the station, either at the east end or the west end.
Railroads Connecting at East End
New York Central, Ohio Division main line northeast to Cleveland.
Pennsylvania Railroad, Columbus Division main line.
Baltimore & Ohio, Hamilton Subdivision extending east into Ohio.
New York Central, Indiana Division main line southeast to Cincinnati.
Pennsylvania Railroad, Indianapolis Division line south to Louisville.
Railroads Connecting at West End
New York Central, Indiana Division main line northwest to Kankakee and Chicago.
New York Central, Illinois Division main line west to St. Louis.
Pennsylvania Railroad, Indianapolis Division main line north to Logansport.
Illinois Central, Indianapolis District branch line to Effingham.
Additional lines serving Indianapolis were the Monon Route line north to Chicago, NYC's Springfield Branch extending east into Ohio, Nickel Plate's Indianapolis Division extending north to Michigan City, B&O's Decatur Subdivision extending west into Illinois, NYC subsidiary Peoria & Eastern's line west, and PRR's St, Louis Division line west. Except for the PRR line, all of these lines connected with NYC main lines extending northeast or northwest of Union Station.
Additional Junctions and Distances from Station
Massachusetts Avenue (2 miles NE) - junction of NYC, Monon with trackage rights.
DX (4 miles NE) - junction of NYC Ohio Division and Springfield Branch.
KD (2 miles NW) - junction of NYC, B&O with trackage rights.
Brant (3 miles NW) - junction of NYC, Peoria & Eastern.
Davis (7 miles SW) - junction of PRR Indianapolis and St. Louis Divisions.
In 1980 Amtrak began using the former Peoria & Eastern line between Indianapolis and Crawfordsville. Because segments of that line in the vicinity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been abandoned, Amtrak instead uses the former Pennsylvania Railroad Indianapolis Division line between Indianapolis and Clermont.