Effort to bring increased passenger rail could get boost under new bill

Hailing from St. Regis, George Bailey has an idea of the benefits a passenger railroad stop near one of the gems of the state could bring.

St. Regis, of course, is a common stop for drivers on I-90. Huck’s Grill, within the St. Regis Travel Center, already has (arguably) the best milkshakes in the state.

But what if rail was bringing passengers too?

“Our little town relies on tourism,” Bailey said while testifying in House Transportation in support of a bill that would boost the effort to bring localized passenger rail through Montana. “And I can envision people using the train to get to our beautiful area.”

Brought by Rep. Denise Baum, D-Billings, House Bill 848 would create a “Big Sky Rail Account”  within the state special revenue fund. It would appropriate $2 million annually to the new rail account and would come from a tax on certain railroad cars.

“I hope that committee members, both in transportation and appropriations, really look at and appreciate the huge economic opportunity for the state to continue to move this forward,” Baum said in an interview with the Daily Montanan. “Just in connectivity with rural and urban jobs, health care, and again, it benefits freight and rail. They can coexist.”

Rail advocates have long pushed for more options in Montana for more railroad options in Montana, led by the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. The organization’s stated goal is to expand passenger rail in the state, which used to be commonplace.

The organization is a transportation authority with membership from 20 counties, as well as cities and transit services across the state. A $500,000 grant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2023 helped the agency move through Phase 1 of the project, which involved creating a service development plan and cost estimates, according to the Billings Gazette.

The second phase, which the appropriated money in HB 848 would go toward, would include more planning, as well as support for grants to move the project further along. Phase Two of the project would confirm the stops, Baum added. While the Rail Authority is being led by Montana, the organization’s chairman — and Missoula County Commissioner — Dave Strohmaier said it includes eight states.

Those eight states are part of the 2,300 miles of passenger rail the agency is seeking to use. During the Biden Administration, the project received an important federal green light as two routes through Montana were selected as “preferred routes” in the Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study.

One of the routes would start in Chicago and run through Billings, Helena and Missoula before getting into Washington and going to either Seattle or Portland. In an interview, Strohmaier said it’s still up for discussion which of those two major West Coast cities it would connect.

The second route would run from El Paso, Texas, to Billings. Between the two routes, Baum said, passenger rail could run through Montana towns including Glendive, Miles City, Billings, Livingston, Bozeman, Helena, Missoula, and possibly either Paradise or Thompson Falls.

‘Critical infrastructure for our nation’

Passenger rail went by the wayside following a boom in the 19th and early 20th century. 

 The service remains limited in Montana along the Hi-Line in the northern part of the state. The Empire Builder runs from Chicago to Seattle. A longer Amtrak North Coast Limited/Hiawatha line used to connect Chicago to Seattle, passing through the southern part of the state.

It’s popular — Whitefish is the most visited stop on the Empire Builder between Seattle and Minneapolis. The station had 38,674 visitors in 2022.

However, the project will not be cheap, nor will it be coming soon.

Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, said he was not trying to “throw cold water” on the project, but pressed Strohmaier for answers on cost and timeline during the hearing. He also expressed concern the rail could be outdated by the time it was built.

Strohmaier said if everything comes together without major issues, increased passenger rail service could come to Montana in 8 to 10 years.

The total cost was more difficult to estimate, he added.

“Infrastructure wise, in this country, it would not be inconceivable that this would be upwards of $2 billion for a 2,300-mile long route,” Strohmaier said.

Paying for the project will likely require significant federal money, and with Elon Musk’s quasi-government agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, attempting to find waste, cost was a real worry for Stafman.

Strohmaier seemed confident infrastructure investments would be protected. Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is now the Secretary of the Interior, has been a strong supporter of increased rail service, Strohmaier said.

“We feel this is straight up critical infrastructure for our nation. There is no secret that rail infrastructure, particularly passenger rail infrastructure, in the United States has lagged behind other places around the globe,” Strohmaier said. “So I think that this administration that we have has certainly expressed thus far, support for investing in that critical infrastructure, and we’ve had some strong support in the past from our congressional delegation.”

Large infrastructure projects are inherently expensive. For example, an 8.5-mile extension of light rail opened north of Seattle last year, costing over $3 billion and taking 15 years to build after voters approved the project in 2008.

Strohmaier said the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority could seek a voter-approved tax to fund rail, which is how some metropolitan areas pay for their transportation infrastructure, but that avenue is not likely to occur in Montana.  

Strohmaier said it would be difficult to ask Montana voters to help subsidize a project that involves multiple states.

Importantly, rail projects over 750 miles fall into federal jurisdiction for operation and capital cost, Strohmaier said.

“We’ve not exercised that option to put the question to voters, and have opted for what other ways can we fund our operations and administration of the rail authority,” Strohmaier said in an interview with the Daily Montanan. “Which is separate than operating a train or the infrastructure necessary for that.

“When we’re talking a long distance route and talking about trying to bankroll the operation and capital infrastructure, that ought not to fall on the backs of Montanans.”

Proponents of the bill came from all corners of the state and much of their testimony focused on how rail could benefit elderly Montanans.

Margaret MacDonald, a former Montana senator and representative, who is now with Big Sky 55+, testified in support of the bill.

“I live in Billings, and my husband and I, and I certainly hope we’ll be able, at some point in the future, be able to take that train to Missoula, particularly as we get older and may not be the best drivers in the world,” MacDonald said. “It brings people together. It brings families together. It unites rural areas with urban centers.”

Whitehall Mayor Mary Hensleigh also pointed to the benefits rail would have for aging populations. 

“Whitehall has a population of 1,000 people, approximately, and a large percentage of those are boomers who have a real hard time admitting that they are now senior citizens, but they are, as I am,” Hensleigh said.

Whitehall helps operate one of the few bus services in the state, called Whitehall Public Transportation, which is run through the nonprofit Liberty Place, Inc. The bus service already runs to Bozeman or Belgrade and could allow people to catch the train there, Hensleigh said.

Other proponents pointed to economic and tourism benefits. They included the Montana Economic Developers Association, the Missoula Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO — all spoke in favor of the bill.

Former Missoula City council member and current Mountain Line CEO Jordan Hess said it could reduce costs associated with transportation.

“Transportation is the second-largest household cost, right behind housing,” Hess said. “We all know the terrible strains we’re in in terms of the cost of housing in the state of Montana. By offering transportation options, we can reduce the second-largest household cost, and make it more affordable for families and seniors to live in Montana and stay in Montana.”

Other proponents pointed to the bipartisan nature of rail, including former Glendive City Council member Jason Stuart. He is the vice-chair of Rail Authority and serves as the executive director of the Dawson County Economic Development Council.

“Glendive and Dawson County are no quote, unquote, liberal bastion,” Stuart said. “It is a deeply conservative community with deeply conservative elected officials. And in the four years since our county commission voted unanimously to make Dawson County one of the founding members of the BSPRA, I have heard no complaints or regrets about that from the people I represent.”

Action was not immediately taken on the bill.