By Kathleen Shannon - Producer, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A Montana bill seeking state funding to support future passenger rail in the state passed the House, but failed the Senate this week. Proponents say passenger rail provides vital connections for rural communities. Comments by Jason Stuart, vice chair, and Samantha Beyl [BILE], Rosebud County director, both with Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. (Additional reference: Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus.)
Click on the image above for the audio. The Empire Builder currently provides rail passenger service through Montana's Hi-Line, paralleling U.S. Highway 2 through the northern part of the state. The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority hopes to expand service through eastern and southern Montana. (Adobe Stock)
Kathleen Shannon
April 18, 2025 - Communities in southern and eastern Montana were connected to passenger rail lines running from Chicago to Seattle until 1979. An effort to fund the revival of those routes passed the House but failed in the Montana Senate this week by a few votes.
The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority has garnered support from county commissioners, city council members and Montanans across party lines since its creation in 2020, especially in communities that could again become rail towns.
Jason Stuart, vice chair of the authority, called rural rail a "critical lifeline."
"Folks need access to critical health care services and other services and the only way they can reach them is by car," Stuart noted. "Passenger trains would just be such a blessing for all these communities up and down, throughout Southern Montana and southern North Dakota."
He added it would bring economic opportunities as well. House Bill 848 had requested $2 million from the state's railroad car tax to go to the authority annually, about half of its average revenue.
Opponents, largely with the freight industry, argued they should not be expected to subsidize passenger rail.
Rep. Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus, brought a late amendment suggesting each local government entity that is a rail authority member fund it with $50,000 annually.
Samantha Beyl, Rosebud County director for the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, said the payments are not practical.
"Especially the rural towns, I don't see how any one county has an extra $50,000 laying around to do that," Beyl contended.
A $500,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor Identification and Development Program helped support plans for the Big Sky North Coast Corridor, mapped from Glendive to Saint Regis through Billings, Helena and Missoula.
