Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority to host meeting July 13

Amtrak’s Empire Builder runs along the High Line of Montana and is an essential passenger transportation service for people traveling both in and through the state.

There are 12 Amtrak stations with the Whitefish station accounting for approximately 45% of the boardings and departures. Passenger rail service through southern Montana ended 41 years ago.

Enter the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority which was developed by Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier. In 2020, Strohmaier rallied support from a dozen urban and rural counties, passed a joint resolution among county commissions to create the authority, and began meeting with Amtrak and Montana’s congressional representatives to discuss funding and infrastructure.

On June 16, an amendment that was introduced by Senator Jon Tester that was included in the Surface Transportation Act of 2021 passed out of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and now advances to the full Senate.

“Senator Tester’s amendment to the surface transportation bill is a huge affirmation of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority and our efforts to restore passenger rail service through southern Montana,” said Strohmaier. “Although additional steps remain before the bill lands on the president’s desk, this is a foundational first step toward a truly national vision of long-distance passenger rail.”

Talk on the streets is the extreme cost that would be required. This can be interpreted in two ways: First, is going to be a function of the specific route(s) chosen, frequency of service, how the system will be operated, and the nature of any public-private partnership that might be forged.

These are questions that a rail authority is well-poised to investigate. Second, the cost of operating a rail authority will largely be a function of the rail authority itself, since it will be an independent governing board with members appointed by county commissioners.

Once board members are appointed, they will determine its priorities, how often the board meets, and what resources the board needs to function — not unlike a school, fire or sewer district.

State law allows counties to provide financial or in-kind support to the authority if they choose, but they are under no obligation to do so. It also allows the authority to place before voters in participating counties a mill levy for authority operation.

However, there is no cost to a county to join. The current route between Missoula and Sandpoint, Idaho, is over Evaro hill up through Paradise, missing Mineral County all together.

For residents of Mineral and Sanders counties, it's a matter of answering questions in terms of whether it's wanted, the positives and negatives of having it run through each county and if residents should campaign for the route.

The Mineral County Economic Development Corporation is hosting an open house at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, in the Superior High School multipurpose room.

Strohmaier, chair of the Big Sky Rail Authority will speak. Also, treasurer Jerry McDonald, who is a retired electrical engineer and lives in Sanders County, will explain more about the organization, where they are at this point with passenger train service though this area and then open it up to questions.

For information, go to www.bigskyrail.org.