More communities support proposed Southern Montana passenger rail plan from Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority

By planes, trains, and automobiles, Montanans are no strangers to long travel times and distances. Gathering speed is a new push to expand the way travelers can connect across the state and to major U.S. cities, all through passenger rail.  There are 2,222 miles of track connecting Chicago to Seattle that used to move travelers along a passage called the North Coast Hiawatha.

“The amount of workforce we could move along here, the connectivity it brings, that’s revitalizing all these areas and is so important,” said Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority executive director Jess Peterson.  Right now the only passenger train service in Montana is the Empire Builder route operated by Amtrak, which has 12 stops between Wolf Point and Libby. The proposed revival of the North Hiawatha would take the route south, coming in from North Dakota through Glendive with stops in Miles City, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, and more.