GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana short line is suing a utility company over a November 2021 wildfire that caused significant damage to the railroad.
Central Montana Rail, an 84-mile railroad based in Denton, Mont., is suing NorthWestern Energy over damage from a fire that largely destroyed the town of Denton, as well as a 172-foot timber trestle and 5.2 miles of track, the Billings Gazette reports. The railroad’s headquarters building was also damaged beyond repair.
The lawsuit, transferred this week to U.S. District Court in Great Falls after originally being filed in state court, alleges negligence on the part of the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based utility, and that NorthWestern is liable “for all economic damages … and actual and tangible restoration costs” resulting from the fire. An investigation found that grassland was set on fire by a NorthWestern power line.
Damage was in the millions of dollars, and the loss of rail service while the line was repaired brought significant financial hardship to grain farmers who rely on the Central Montana to transport their crops, the Gazette reports.
The railroad operates on trackage acquired by the state when Burlington Northern ended service in 1983. Most of the railroad’s route was built as part of the Milwaukee Road’s line to Great Falls; the southernmost portion, to Moccasin, Mont., where the Central Montana interchanges with BNSF, was a Great Northern branch line.
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