(The Associated Press circulated the following article on February 7.)
BOX ELDER, Mont. — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway says the two-thousand or so flatcars it’s parked on a stretch of track in northern Montana will remain there at least into the spring.
The cars extending along some 18 miles between Big Sandy and Havre, Montana, arrived in mid-December and parallel U.S. Route Two.
Some area residents area say using the tracks for storage is oddly symbolic of the Fort Worth-based railroad’s desire to have the Havre-Big Sandy branch line declared unnecessary for transportation, then abandoned. Critics say that would leave a hole in northern Montana’s transportation options, and reduce the infrastructure available to businesses looking to locate there.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says there’s been no decision about the future of the line. He says the railroad regularly evaluates the status of rail lines that have low traffic.
Melonas says the flatcars are being stored on the branch line, because BNSF doesn’t want to tie up other places as storage locations.