(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Montana passenger rail gets $15M for Malta infrastructure, southern rail planning – Daily Montanan [1] ['Blair Miller', 'More From Author', '- December'] Date: 2023-12-08 Efforts to expand and upgrade passenger rail service both along the Hi-Line and in southern Montana got boosts this week to the tune of more than $15 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Montana’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and the White House this week announced more than $8 billion would be going to rail projects across the country. That includes nearly $15 million to upgrade rail infrastructure on Amtrak’s Empire Builder line and $500,000 so the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority can put together a plan to restore the North Coast Hiawatha route through southern Montana. About $14.9 million will run through the Federal-State Partnership program to upgrade Empire Builder infrastructure in and around Malta, including track, bridge, and signal construction to try to cut down on delays and issues between freight and passenger trains. “For years folks have been telling me that we need an upgrade to our rail infrastructure around Malta to improve passenger and freight services, and with the help of my bipartisan infrastructure law, we’ll finally be able to deliver,” Tester said in a statement. The Empire Builder runs between Chicago and Seattle and Portland, connecting through Minneapolis, across the Hi-Line from Wolf Point to Libby, with stops along the way. It is currently the only Amtrak passenger rail line through Montana. But the half-million dollars also secured in Corridor Identification and Development funding is a boost toward the years-long effort to revive the North Coast Hiawatha route across southern Montana, which connected Chicago to Seattle when it ran from 1971-1979. The funding will be used so Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority can develop a plan to bring the route back through Glendive, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Helena and Missoula and ensures the route is included in long-term passenger rail planning. Tester had worked to include the North Coast Hiawatha restoration in a $15 million national study to evaluate whether restoring discontinued rail lines was feasible. “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,” Tester said. BSPRA Chairman Dave Strohmaier said he appreciated Tester’s effort to secure the money and called it an “initial step” toward bringing the southern Montana route back. Jason Stuart, a Glendive City Councilman and the executive director of the Dawson County Economic Development Council, said people there were thrilled about possibly bringing the passenger train route back. Several cities in eastern Montana were established by the Northern Pacific Railway as it built the transcontinental railroad. “Glendive was born on the rails, and we believe that in restoring passenger rail service, it can, at least in some sense, be reborn among them,” Stuart said in a statement. “A bustling, historic downtown train depot, with twice daily passenger service in each direction, would bring vibrancy back into our community’s historic core, spurring economic development and urba renewal while providing our residents safe, reliable, affordable, all-weather transportation accessibility.” A 2021 report from the Rail Passengers Association commissioned by the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority said Montana could stand to gain more than $40 million in economic benefits if the southern Montana rail line was restored. It estimated annual ridership along the full line could top 400,000 people. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/12/08/montana-passenger-rail-gets-15m-for-malta-infrastructure-southern-rail-planning/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/