De Yong tells the Tribune he made the request to state BNSF officials a few times during meetings and conference phone calls because he thinks increased oil, coal, and intermodal shipments have decreased the railroad’s ability to ship corn, soybeans, and wheat west efficiently on the line. There has even been increased production of alternate crops in Montana, which many farmers grow in years they let their wheat fields lie fallow, thereby increasing shipment needs, he says.
“In my mind, we’ve had a major shift in the last year in BNSF’s ability to meet the needs of Montana shippers,” de Yong says.
BNSF has tried to increase its shipping capacity by adding more rail cars and double tracking 60 miles between Minot, N.D., and Glasgow, which has helped some, he says, but oil production and shipments are still increasing.
De Young says he has asked BNSF officials to consider reopening the Great Falls to Helena line to help reduce the bottleneck on the northern route. De Yong says reopening the route also would help for other reasons:
• BNSF will never be able to double track along the scenic southern border of Glacier National Park for either “physical or political reasons,” he says, since it might take blasting away part of a mountainside.
• If a major snow slide knocked oil cars from a BNSF train into the Middle Fork of the Flathead, it would take considerable time to reopen the key route, de Yong says. If that happened, those shipments could be rerouted from Shelby to the reopened Great Falls to Helena route, and then sent to Spokane and west via Montana Rail Link.
• As the Golden Triangle area north of Great Falls continues to diversify, the Great Falls to Helena route could help in shipping its products to the south. For instance, he said, Colorado brewers would be interested in Montana’s prime malting barley and there likely would be markets for the pulse crops such as peas and lentils.
The railroad’s regional public affairs director, Matt Jones, says the change is not in the works at this point.
“BNSF has no plans to reestablish service between Helena and Great Falls,” Jones says. “However, as we consider additional capacity needs, we will evaluate all of our options to determine the best economical and operational alternatives to expand capacity to accommodate increased train traffic.”
Jones says the Great Falls to Helena line has been out of service since 2000, and would require “a substantial amount of investment” to reopen, including upgrading or installing new track, sidings, bridges, signals, and telecommunications systems. BNSF has occasionally stored surplus cars along part of the route.
Jones says BNSF already connects with Montana Rail Link through its Great Falls to Laurel line, and at Sandpoint, Idaho.
“At this point the potential revenue we’d gain from reopening the Great Falls to Helena line does not justify the cost, when compared with other investments to add capacity to the northern corridor,” he says.
