(The Associated Press circulated the following article on November 19.)
HELENA, Mont. — A Helena orthodontist is more interested in preventing a Helena-to-Great Falls rail line from becoming a bike and pedestrian trail than he is in operating a short-line railroad, BNSF Railway and a rail-trail advocacy group say.
BNSF and two members of Recreational Trails Inc. made the assertion in letters this past week to the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Daniel Fiehrer, the orthodontist, wants the federal board to force the railroad to sell its Helena-to-Great Falls line to him for use as a short line.
The railroad and the rail-trail group claim that Fiehrer’s request is incomplete and his business plan is speculative. They claim Fiehrer’s real motive is not to run a rail line but to prevent the 95-mile route from becoming a bike and pedestrian trail. A BNSF attorney asked the board to reject Fiehrer’s application.
Fiehrer, who owns two parcels along the line, could not be reached for comment Saturday. No one answered his home telephone, and a recording at his business number said he was out of the office for the weekend.
Fiehrer applied to the Surface Transportation Board last month. Board members have the power to force the sale of a “feeder” line if shippers along the route haven’t been provided with adequate service by the railroad.
Robert Jenkins III, a Washington, D.C. attorney representing BNSF, wrote that Fiehrer failed to show that local shippers have a “serious or even a passing interest” in using the line.
Fiehrer hasn’t demonstrated that he’s capable of purchasing and running a railroad, Jenkins and Seattle attorney Charles Montange wrote. Montange is representing Great Divide Cyclery owner Eric Grove and former state parks administrator Doug Monger, both members of Recreational Trails Inc.
Fiehrer has said he would lease the route to a short-line railroad, which would run freight and passenger trains along the line, opening a corridor between Canada and Mexico.