(Gannett News Service circulated the following article by Brian Tumulty on November 1.)
WASHINGTON — The unused railroad line between Great Falls and Helena would reopen as an independent short line to foster competition in freight rail under an application filed with the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Dr. Daniel Fiehrer, a dentist from Helena, is asking the federal agency to award him “running rights” and let him purchase the 92-mile stretch of railroad from the BNSF Railway Co.based in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fiehrer is not the only one to express interest in the line.
The Helena-based Corridor of Discovery Action Committee has expressed interest in converting the line to a bicycle trail.
Trails advocates in Great Falls and Helena are urging development of the trail.
Both Cascade and Lewis and Clark counties and Great Falls and Helena city commissions have proclaimed their support for the trail.
Landowners along the corridor have reservations about the trail.
Standard concerns are trespass from the trail right of way onto private property, litter, dogs, fires, illegal camping and weed control.
Fiehrer, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said he wants to run one freight train daily on the single-track feeder line.
“We’re basically going to provide competition from central Montana to outside sources,” he said, explaining that it would provide a link to the Canadian Pacific, the Union Pacific and the Montana Rail Link. “It’s one of the few north-south routes from Canada to Mexico.”
Fiehrer said he doesn’t know how much the shipping cost of grain would change, but said he was confident prices would drop if there is competition.
Secondarily, the scenic 92-mile stretch along the Missouri River would be used for a dinner line, according to Fiehrer, who also is considering rail service for trout fishing enthusiasts who would be dropped off at hard-to-reach fishing spots.
The new short line would be headquartered in Cascade. Daily operations would be handled by one of several interested short line operators.
In the application filed with the Surface Transportation Board, Fiehrer states that BNSF has decided there isn’t enough business to warrant reopening the line, but the railroad also has declined to file for abandonment.
The line is not usable because of a 50-foot washout at Ulm, which Fiehrer says in his application would be immediately repaired if he were given ownership. The application also points out that the longer the railroad is not used — currently 6 1/2 years — the greater the expense will be to reopen it.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas declined to comment on when the railroad might reopen the line. “BNSF has determined to retain the Helena to Great Falls line based on current and projected regional transportation volume and shippers’ needs, which could impact this line,” said Melonas.
About two years ago Fiehrer and his wife, Mary Ann, co-founded the Transportation Preservation Society of Montana with the hope of preserving rail lines for commercial use. Their organization — which says it includes business and landowners — is concerned that BNSF now controls almost all rail shipping in the state.
The high cost of shipping grain has been a controversial issue in the state.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who is in a tight race for re-election against Democrat Jon Tester, held an Oct. 11 news conference in Great Falls with the chairman of the Surface Transportation Board to announce a public hearing on grain shipping rates.
That hearing will be held in Washington on Thursday at 8 a.m.
The hearing is a response to an Oct. 6 report by the U.S. General Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress that found the agency’s “rate relief processes are largely inaccessible and rarely used.”
The GAO urged the Surface Transportation Board to assess the competition.
Railroads, shippers, and trade organizations are scheduled to speak at Thursday’s hearing. Advance copies of their hearing statements were posted on the Internet late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the application for a Great Falls to Helena short line does not require a public hearing.
Instead, the agency has 30 days to decide whether to accept the application. A final ruling would take another six months to a year.
If Fiehrer receives a favorable ruling, the Surface Transportation Board would decide on the price of the sale after receiving appraisals from both sides.