MISSOULA, Mont. — The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, the group seeking to return passenger service to southern Montana, has agreed to help BNSF Railway seek a federal grant for improvements on the route of the Empire Builder, the existing Amtrak service in the northern part of the state.
The Missoula Current reports that the $15 million grant would go to infrastructure improvements on BNSF’s Hi-Line between Malta and Havre, Mont.
Dave Strohmaier, president of the authority board, told the Current the railroad approached the organization “given that we’ve established ourselves as a statewide and national leader in passenger rail issues, to apply on their behalf for a grant that would enhance passenger rail passenger operations along the Hi-Line. … It’s a pretty big deal.”
Strohmaier says the authority’s involvement is needed because BNSF cannot pursue the grant on its own. And it will aid the relationship between the authority and BNSF, as well as freight and passenger rail operations in general.
The authority was formed to pursue restoration passenger service on the route of the North Coast Hiawatha, which last saw Amtrak service in 1978, but Strohmaier says strong Empire Builder service is beneficial to efforts to grow passenger service everywhere.
The train was not the North Coast Hiawatha. It was the North Coast Limited ran by the Northern Pacific RR.
With all the troubles Amtrak is causing, why won’t BNSF just boot it off the property?
The Empire Builder route on the former GN is part of the National System, so BNSF can’t just “boot it off the property”.
To correct myself, why does BNSF need a grant to do this?
The upgrades are for improving passenger service. If the line were to stay freight-only, they wouldn’t be needed.
I really wonder why BNSF can’t do these upgrades on their own and somehow this group’s $15 million is going to help. BNSF can’t cough up that money on their own? Come on.
I rode the North Coast Hiawatha from Seattle to Portage, Wi in July 1979. It was very close to full capacity and it had two dome cars. I was riding in coach. They don’t run trains that nice anymore in the USA.
It’s deja vu all over again. The generation before us mourned the loss of classic trains like the 20th Century Limited or the original (the actual) California Zephyr. Our generation, Gregory, mourns the loss of the trains that Amtrak and VIA Rail downgraded or discontinued. I rode VIA Rail’s actual The Canadian, the real one, not today’s joke which runs on CNR a couple of times a week. I rode Amtrak’s glorious Super Chief El Capitan, not today’s second-rate Southwest Chief. VIA’s lovely train from Saint John to Montreal is gone. I rode it.
Trains I’ve ridden that have been discontinued by Amtrak include Detroit – Toledo, Detroit – Buffalo, and Lapeer (Michigan) to London (Ontario).
The North Coast Hiawatha ran until October 1979, not 1978.
You mean the Amtrak reimbursement rate is too low to cover the cost of its share of maintenance? Or is this for net new service, like a siding extension?
$15M for what exactly?