Montana Counties Unite to Revive Passenger Rail Efforts

“This is an effort, a need, and desire that transcends any party line or socio-economic line,” said Jason Stuart, executive director of the Dawson County Economic Development Council, near the state’s eastern border. “You have counties that are incredibly diverse, from tiny little rural counties with 1,000 people to the counties that count as ‘urban’ in Montana.”

With hopes high for funding from the proposed infrastructure bill in Congress, including $50 million for the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a nationwide study on the restoration of long-distance passenger rail service and $2.4 billion for passenger rail enhancements, members of the authority anticipate some traction, particularly if they can win over remaining statewide officials. The effort already has endorsements from Senator Jon Tester (D) and Senator Steve Daines (R).

“This is a big bold initiative and goes well beyond potholes and zoning and the stuff that counties oftentimes deal with. It’s a multi-year effort and something we haven’t done before. I cannot think of an issue that has garnered as much bipartisan support as this. It’s easy to look at a big place like Montana and say ‘not enough people live there to make rail service make sense,’ but there are more people living along the southern line than did when they stopped service in 1979. This isn’t going to get done just because 18 counties want it to happen, it’s going to be a regional effort, it will be a regional collaboration." - Commissioner Dave Strohmaier

Appeared in National Association of Counties 10/21