This IMPORTANT Community Event includes a review of improvements planned to the Malta portion of the Hi-Line through the Federal-State Partnership Grant. Public input is sought and all are welcome. - Havre Daily News

When looking at the tourism impacts, the report highlights national parks such as Waterton Lakes and Banff as main attractions to visiting southern Alberta, while Glacier and Yellowstone national parks act as go-to spots for tourists Stateside.

For smaller communities along the track, David Strohmaier with Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority in Montana says the route would positively benefit each economy.

"This is an option to connect folks to other communities, larger urban areas if you're living in a rural area to access services that you currently may not have that ability to do right now," Strohmaier said.

"We've long advocated either connectivity from Denver up to Montana or even Texas all the way north and it makes complete sense to connect our two countries and have cross-border travel."

A non-profit in Alberta looks to build an international train route, connecting the prairie province and Montana. Integrated Travel Research and Development has released its Alberta-Montana Passenger Rail Feasibility Report. It proposed creating an 888.9-kilometre route between Calgary and Livingston, Montana.

Integrated Travel Research and Development (ITRD) is set to release six transformative research studies on Friday, April 19th, 2024. These studies, commissioned under the ECO Canada Pathways to Environmental Careers Program, delve into a range of passenger rail technologies and solutions aimed at improving connectivity, sustainability, and community accessibility across Canada and the United States.

Now, another idea for passenger rail has surfaced, and one that wouldn't focus on east-west travel, but moving people in a north-south direction. And this one would provide an important international connection with our Canadian neighbors, which has the potential for a big economic impact on Montana, especially for tourism.

"We're planning on something that will be transformational across Montana," said David Strohmaier, the Chair of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday made $2.4 billion available to help local railroads modernize both freight and passenger rail infrastructure, and the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority may consider several projects.

First, I will discuss the most recent content of the FRA’s long-distance study. Then, I will detail why these long-distance routes may well be worth our qualified support — as both matters of principle and political strategy.

It has been well over four decades since people could take passenger rail to or from Bozeman, but officials working on a long distance rail project hope it will be less than a decade before passenger service in southern Montana is restored. During a virtual forum through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Montana State University, representatives of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority spoke about the progress they’ve made so far and what is next to come for restoring rail service to southern Montana.

Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, which was formed in 2020 under an obscure, century-old piece of Montana law to advocate for expanded passenger rail service through southern Montana, said the development is a “very strong signal” that federal authorities are invested in a restoration of the North Coast Hiawatha route.

The FRA presented the proposed routes and gave detailed information about the study on a website devoted to it: https://fralongdistancerailstudy.org/meeting-materials/. The study group considered potential routes in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, and Central (from Texas north to Kansas and east to Mississippi) regions. States that have connections to two adjoining regions were involved with studying potential routes in both.

The list of routes just released constitutes the third phase of a four-phase program, the Route Identification phase. It is anticipated that the study group will suggest “Recommended Actions” during the coming spring. The FRA is accepting feedback at contactus@fralongdistancerailstudy.org., but only until March 8. All materials cited here can be found on the FRA study website.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has unveiled its preferred Amtrak long-distance expansion plan. The Pacific Northwest could see two new routes under the preferred plan, serving destinations without any train service at all, such as Yakima, Boise, Missoula, and Pocatello. Both routes would provide daily service from Seattle with one running to Denver and another running to Chicago on a modified alignment from Amtrak’s Empire Builder.

“North Dakota is pleased that Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA) has been awarded $500,000 in seed money to begin its efforts to revitalize the North Coast Hiawatha route as part of the Federal Corridor ID and Development program. For decades, passenger rail service has been unavailable to communities in the southern part of our state. Reinstating service along this route will not only impact cities like Bismarck, North Dakota and Fargo, North Dakota but will also provide another means of transporting visitors to the historic town of Medora, North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library set to open July of 2026. We applaud the efforts of BSPRA and look forward to supporting these efforts as the project continues through the process.”

“Amtrak is working on two overarching objectives in 2024 – improving passenger train service for our customers and efficiently and effectively carrying out a massive major infrastructure capital program aimed to modernize and upgrade our infrastructure, stations, fleet and technology,” said Amtrak President Roger Harris. “As both a passenger rail service provider and a major construction company, we are quickly growing and evolving to deliver on both.”

Passenger Rail also received funding, including $500,000 in seed funding for the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority and its acceptance into the Federal Railroad Administration 's Corridor Identification Program.

Rail authority chairman and Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said acceptance into the program also brings a commitment to future funds that will help push restoration closer to reality.

Chicago to Pacific Northwest: Montana’s Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority landed a $500,000 grant to study reviving the North Coast Hiawatha, a long-distance Amtrak route discontinued in 1979. This route (which would be renamed to avoid confusion with the current Chicago-Milwaukee line) would parallel the Empire Builder, linking Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul to Seattle and Portland, but on a more southerly course through the largest cities of Montana and North Dakota. In Wisconsin, the line could follow either the Empire Builder route through La Crosse or the proposed route through Madison and Eau Claire — or both, if it ran two round trips daily, says Dan Bucks, the authority’s development chair.

Informative YouTube video from Alan Fisher about "the American Government's Massive Plan to Build more Passenger Rail: Corridor ID"

Corridor ID is a framework system set up by the Federal Railroad Administration to streamline the process of getting funds to start up new passenger rail lines in the US. This is all thanks to the Biden Infrastructure Bill. Mention of the North Coast Hiawatha at 15:48

The Bismarck Tribune Editorial Board believes reviving the North Coast Hiawatha route could be an economic boost for the states involved.

From Trains Magazine - Three passenger corridor revivals I’d love to see. By Kevin P. Keefe | January 15, 2024

It’s fun to dream about what’s possible. Speaking of breathtaking mountain scenery, here’s a vote for bringing back the North Coast Hiawatha, the long-distance train Amtrak ran in Chicago-Seattle service until 1979.

From Montana’s Yellowstone Country - Passenger Rail Service on Track to Return to Montana's Yellowstone Country