White House Awards $500k to Southern Montana Amtrak Route

Revival of a southern Amtrak route across Montana gets a boost this week when the Biden administration awards $500,000 to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.

The funding keeps the planning alive for an alternate Chicago-to-Seattle Amtrak route connecting communities like Fargo, Bismarck, Billings, Bozeman and Missoula. Known as the North Coast Hiawatha, the route existed through the late 1970s when cuts to Amtrak ended the service.

Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority Chairman David Strohmaier said with the award, the rail authority will begin working on a service development plan and cost estimates. The North Coast Hiawatha is a 2,200-mile route with multiple state transportation departments and tribal governments along the way. Those government agencies and other stakeholders will be getting involved in a planning process expected to take six to eight months.

Planning will include addressing conflicts with other train traffic on the line as well as making plans for depots, either returning old facilities to service, or new construction, Strohmaier said.

The funding comes from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2021. The spending package included $12 billion for passenger rail.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester praised the award in a press release.

"I fought hard to ensure that we invested in renewed Amtrak service, and I can't think of a better place to explore than the North Coast Hiawatha route. I was proud to help secure this funding and designation that will help fuel the next stage of the project, and I look forward to working with the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority to make their vision a reality."

Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority members have argued that the rail line would create the only public transit between Southeastern and Western Montana.

Amtrak's Empire Builder is the current Chicago-to-Seattle route that runs across the Montana Hi-Line.

The Department of Transportation also awarded $14.9 million to improve Empire Builder route infrastructure near Malta. The funding, which Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority applied for with Amtrak will, among other things, extend the rail siding in Malta to 3 miles, a length long enough to allow one train to pull off the main track without stopping while another locomotive passes.

"We've said all along that our goal to reestablish passenger rail service in southern Montana is not to be seen as oppositional to the Empire Builder," Strohmaier said. "Because Malta is such a pinch point, anything that can be done to enhance freight and passenger rail service there ripples out on the entire Empire Builder route, including after Sandpoint (Idaho) where these two trains share a line."