A message from Senator Jon Tester

We are grateful to Senator Jon Tester for his leadership in the Senate passage of the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill and surface transportation reauthorization, which directs the U.S. Department of Transportation to study the restoration of passenger service along any Amtrak routes that were discontinued or relegated to a nondaily schedule. And it authorizes $15 million for this study!

By way of background, over the past 42 years, proposals to restore the North Coast Hiawatha have come and gone. But this time could be different. Tester's amendment was passed alongside a multibillion-dollar authorization for passenger rail projects - "the most significant bipartisan investment in passenger rail in history," according to a statement from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Other language in the Tester amendment says the department may take into consideration how new routes would "link...large and small communities as part of a regional rail network" and advance the economic well-being of rural areas.

"As a farmer who is a stone's throw away from the Empire Builder, Senator Tester knows that passenger rail is an economic boon to rural America,"
Tester's office said in a statement.

Restoring rail service to the area would carry many benefits, BSPRA Chairman Dave Strohmaier said, especially to rural economies.