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.
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