(The following story by Brian Duggan appeared on the Bismarck Tribune website on November 25.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Bismarck could once again get railway passenger service depending on the outcome of an Amtrak feasibility study that is expected to be completed sometime next year, transportation officials said Monday.
President Bush signed the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act last month that requires Amtrak to look into the possibility of reinstating the North Coast Hiawatha route, or sections of it, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact existing Amtrak routes.
The North Coast Hiawatha route, which used to run through Bismarck, was discontinued in 1979 amid federal budget cuts. If reinstated, it would run from Chicago to Fargo through Bismarck and on to Seattle following I-94 and I-90.
The Montana Department of Transportation also is conducting its own feasibility study with Amtrak that would look to reinstate its southern route that could “theoretically” include Bismarck, said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman.
“In neither case is the return of service imminent,” Magliari said.
The Seattle-bound Empire Builder route, which runs from Chicago through North Dakota cities such as Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot, had more than 131,000 in-state passengers last year, said Jack Olson of the North Dakota Department of Transportation.
Olson said in-state ridership on the Empire Builder has nearly doubled since 2002, and from 2006 to 2007 increased by more than 9 percent. The route used to have two daily trains, but that was cut to one in 2002, Olson said.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who helped Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., push for the Hiawatha study, said it’s been difficult to generate support for a national network of passenger rail under the Bush administration.
“President Bush was a strong opponent, believing that it should be unsubsidized,” Dorgan said. “If you had no subsidy, you’d only have passenger service from Boston down through Florida.”
Dorgan said he thinks President-elect Barack Obama will support a national rail passenger service.
“I suspect he’ll have a different view,” he said.