Flush with new funding opportunities, Amtrak preps for growth

The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority was officially established in 2020, but people associated with it have been working on restoring a long-distance Amtrak route through the greater Northwest after part of its North Coast Limited/Hiawatha line from Chicago to Seattle was cancelled in 1979. Ending that connection severed access to passenger-rail service to the largest cities in Montana and North Dakota, as well as smaller towns in between, says David Strohmaier, the authority’s chairman.  

If restored, the new Big Sky line would cover southern Montana as part of a larger route from Chicago, running through the Twin Cities and across southern North Dakota into Montana. To advance their proposal, Big Sky officials sought the support of Amtrak, BNSF (whose freight-rail track would host the new passenger-rail service), state transportation officials, county and local governments, and three Tribal Nations.  "We’ve made more progress in the last two years than we have in the first 40, and I think passenger-rail service is finally within our grasp," Strohmaier says. Read more.