Study: Empire Builder carries life blood of northern Montana – Montana shouldn’t have to pay for Empire Builder

For everything from businesses importing fresh flowers to local citizens traveling to hospitals, Amtrak’s Empire Builder passenger train is a vital transportation link for northern Montana’s Hi-Line, a state study released Tuesday said.

By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau

"This is a real important thing for Montana," said state Transportation Director Dave Galt. "The Empire Builder is certainly part of our heritage."

Galt and state Agriculture Director Ralph Peck unveiled the study at a Helena news conference, saying it makes a strong argument against cutting federal funding for the passenger rail service.

The study said the Empire Builder has a total economic impact in Montana of nearly $14 million.

President Bush has proposed to make states responsible for Amtrak passenger service.

Galt said if Congress approves the president’s proposal, the Empire Builder is likely history in Montana, which can’t afford to operate the train system.

"We just think it’s a federal responsibility," he said.

Gov. Judy Martz, who chairs the Western Governors Association, plans to introduce a resolution at the WGA conference next month, in support of continued federal support for long-distance Amtrak trains.

The Amtrak train that traverses Montana’s Hi-Line daily from North Dakota to Idaho provides good-paying jobs, reduces highway maintenance and brings in at least $5 million tourist dollars a year, the study said.

Civic leaders from across the Hi-Line also weighed in on the study, saying the loss of the Empire Builder would be a devastating economic blow to already hard-pressed towns.

"In a struggling economy in this area, it would only make things more difficult," said Henri Headdress, transportation director for the Fort Peck tribes. "We are losing our young people to better-paying jobs in other parts of the country, and this would be just another reason for them to leave."

The study said the Empire Builder:

# Employs 59 people in Montana with a $2.4 million annual payroll.

# Spends $1.3 million to $1.7 million a year on fuel, station maintenance, food and motor-coach charters in Montana.

# Saves Montana at least $7.6 million a year in transportation benefits, such as less highway maintenance and fewer highway accidents.

The study also said the train is a "way of life" for many Hi-Line residents, who use it as a means of affordable, public transportation where there are few alternatives.

Farmers use its express shipping service, students travel to college, elderly residents take the train to medical centers, and people ride the train in bad weather when they don’t want to drive.

"My granddaughter is a patient at the Shriners’ (Hospital) in Spokane," one woman wrote in an e-mail to the study authors. "This is their only means of transportation. Many people in northeast Montana rely on this transportation. We cannot lose Amtrak."

The state paid $48,000 to R.L. Banks & Associates to conduct the study. Galt said the departments of Transportation, Commerce and Agriculture paid for it this spring, anticipating a need to argue against cuts in federal support for Amtrak.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20030806/localnews/10189.html

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Montana shouldn’t have to pay for Empire Builder

By DAN D’AMBROSIO Associated Press Writer Missoulian

HELENA (AP) – Montana should not have to pay for the essential services provided by Amtrak’s Empire Builder that crosses the Hi-Line as the Bush Administration is proposing, state officials said Tuesday.

Representatives of the Montana departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Commerce outlined findings of a recent study of Amtrak’s importance to Montana’s economy and transportation system. The study, which anticipates the Bush administration’s proposal to shift the costs of the rail system to the states it serves, concludes the state would have to come up with millions of dollars to keep Amtrak operating.

"The chief concern is a cost issue," Department of Transportation Director Dave Galt said Tuesday at a news conference. "(Amtrak) is a national transportation system. We think it’s a federal responsibility."

He was joined by Ralph Peck, director of the state Department of Agriculture and Marty Tuttle, an attorney with the state Department of Commerce.

The study, conducted at a cost of $48,000 by R.L. Banks & Associates, concluded that the Empire Builder provides "essential transportation service" to residents along Montana’s Hi-Line. The study also showed that passengers on the train spend between $5 million and $6 million annually in the state, and that Amtrak spends nearly $4 million each year for payroll and other services in Montana.

The total economic impact of losing Amtrak service in Montana could be nearly $14 million, the study concludes.

If the state had to pay for the train service itself, as the Bush administration is proposing, the cost could be nearly $20 million, Galt said.

Gov. Judy Martz also opposes the Bush proposal to shift the costs of Amtrak to the states, and is planning to introduce a resolution to that effect at next month’s meeting of Western governors at Big Sky, according to spokesman Chuck Butler. The meeting will mark Martz’s last as chairwoman of the Western Governors’ Association.

The Empire Builder began service across Montana in 1929. It passes through eight counties and 26 towns. It employs 59 Montana residents. Since 1992, 1.2 million passengers boarded the Empire Builder at Montana’s 12 stations, with 113,282 passengers last year, according to Amtrak statistics.

Galt said he supported a bill also supported by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., that would allocate $12 billion in operating expenses to Amtrak over the next six years.

"Amtrak is part of our heritage and we’d like to keep it," Galt said.

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/08/06/mtracker/news/93empire.txt