(The following article by Michael Jamison was posted on the Missoulian website on February 4.)
WEST GLACIER, Mont. — Interstate commerce is back on track in northwest Montana, after being derailed last week by Mother Nature.
“We resumed service late Sunday,” said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. “Everything is running on schedule.”
Amtrak was the last piece of the transportation puzzle to fall into place after a blizzard swept the underside of Glacier National Park last week. The storm blew in Tuesday, dumping bitter cold snow, driven by strong winds.
Nearly 4 feet of snow fell in places like Essex, and atop Glacier Park’s Logan Pass, steady winds clipped along at better than 40 mph. Sometimes, they gusted to more than 100 mph. Temperatures at the pass plunged 50 degrees in two hours as the storm approached, and wind chills hit 75 below.
In the face of the oncoming blizzard, U.S. Highway 2, which curves tight against the underbelly of the park between West Glacier and East Glacier, closed Tuesday as the storm approached.
Rail service, however, continued.
But on Wednesday, an avalanche slammed into the middle of a 120-car freight train, blasting seven empty grain cars from the track. Stranded in avalanche country, the train sat unprotected as a second avalanche crashed down, blowing eight more cars off the rail.
For most of Thursday, nothing moved across Marias Pass by way of road or rail, with both the highway and the train track closed due to continued avalanche danger.
The track finally was cleared and reopened for freight traffic at about 4 p.m. Thursday.
The highway, however, remained closed over the Continental Divide. It opened Friday afternoon, but Amtrak still wasn’t sending passengers through the storm’s path.
Sunday, the evening passenger train made its first trip from East Glacier to West Glacier in nearly a week.
“We’re all back on track,” Graham said.