Fishers and Noblesville on Monday selected a new operator for the Nickel Plate rail line that would run trains north of Noblesville and free up the track south of the suburb for the construction of a greenway.

The plan by the Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad would kill the popular Indiana State Fair Train for good.

At a meeting Monday in Noblesville, the public works boards for Fishers and Noblesville voted to enter negotiations with the Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad, which would run trains only on the northern portion of the 37-mile Nickel Plate line through Arcadia, Atlanta and Cicero.

That would allow the cities to tear out the tracks from Noblesville and Fishers to build a 9-mile hiking and biking trail. It also means the fair train, grounded last year, is gone forever.

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Noblesville, Fishers and the Hamilton County Commission are the owners of the track, which is overseen by the Hoosier Heritage Port Authority. The HHPA recently sought a new operator because it was unsatisfied with the Indiana Transportation Museum, which had operated trains for decades. Five companies applied.

The track owners did not select the operator that HHPA had given the highest score to among the applicants: Iowa Pacific. Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman said there was concern about Iowa Pacific because it proposed running freight trains, as well as excursions, and it wanted to use the tracks south of Noblesville, which would have complicated plans for the trail.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said both train and rail lovers won in the end.

“The proposal approved today allows for the preservation of the train going north from Noblesville while providing a year-round recreational trail amenity for our residents,” Fadness said in a prepared statement. “The Nickel Plate Railroad played an important role in our history as a city and I believe the Nickel Plate Trail will honor that history while creating an amenity that so many of our residents have requested.”

Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear echoed Fadness.

"We are saving the Nickel Plate Railroad so that it never needs saving again,'' Ditslear said in a written statement. "This option keeps the trains rolling from Downtown Noblesville, through Forest Park and north along the historic railroad."

The ITM's chairman of the board John McNichols called the vote "a travesty of the public trust in the use of the historic railroad and its legacy."

The museum had submitted a proposal that would have operated trains all the way to Downtown Indianapolis, as four of the five bids did. It stressed its experience, equipment and ability to fund itself in its proposal.

But the port authority ranked the ITM proposal third of the five.

"Our examination of the competing proposals suggests that an excursion line only from Arcadia to Tipton, based on our studies and past experience, isn’t financially feasible," McNichols said.

The museum is suing the port authority in federal court, alleging its rights to due process were violated. But U.S. District Court Judge Jane Magnus Stinson of the Southern District of Indiana denied the museum’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have allowed the museum to keep running the trains.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.