Amtrak gets money for access work

The Daily Inter Lake

Amtrak stations along the passenger-rail company's Empire Builder route will get $2.5 million to make railway stops more accessible for disabled passengers.

The allocations include $509,000 for a new American Disabilities Act-compliant concrete platform at the Whitefish train station to allow mobility-impaired passengers to board the train, and additional upgrades.

Libby, Cut Bank and Browning also will get $509,000 apiece for similar projects.

Money for the upgrades comes from the federal jobs bill known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester both helped write and voted for the bill.

"Infrastructure investment is a key way to getting our economy moving again," Baucus said in a prepared statement.

Tester said the funding will create new opportunities for people with disabilities.

East Glacier Park, Malta, West Glacier and Wolf Point stations will get $93,000 each for new wheelchair lifts and enclosure, new pads for lift and sidewalk to platform, new sidewalks and curb cuts from parking to platform, and new accessible parking stalls.

Shelby will get $114,000 for an ADA-compliant tactile edge on existing concrete platforms and a wheelchair lift. Malta is slated to receive $93,000 for similar improvements, while Glasgow and Havre each will get $35,000 for various handicap-access improvements.