(The following editorial appeared on the Great Falls Tribune website on June 3, 2009.)
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — With fuel prices rising again and $8 billion in the federal stimulus package to develop high-speed rail systems in several transportation corridors across the country, attention is once again focused on passenger trains.
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It’s about time.
The annual appropriation for Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, has been a major bone of contention as long as we can remember. One side (most recently spearheaded by the Bush administration) has been determined to kill the railroad off or privatize it, and the other side has sought to preserve and improve passenger rail service.
It’s good to see a consensus on the topic based on the desire for fuel and travel efficiency.
Making that consensus even more reassuring is the essential nature of the Amtrak line that serves Montana and the Hi-Line. For many far-flung Hi-Line communities, Amtrak’s Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle/Portland is the only form of mass transit at hand. It forms a vital link for the thousands of people who live there.
Also promising is renewed interest in reviving the southern passenger route across Montana.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., held a public meeting last week in Bozeman to discuss the idea, and it was attended by a crowd of supporters.
Being discussed was an impending study of Amtrak routes, including possible renewal of the old North Coast Hiawatha, which connected St. Paul, Minn., and Seattle by way of a southern tier of Montana cities, including Glendive, Billings, Bozeman, Butte and Missoula.
The Hiawatha ceased service in 1979.
“If we can make an investment in rail transportation that will lessen the impact on highways, that is an investment worth making,” said Jim Lynch, head of the Montana Department of Transportation.
We agree, with one caveat.
The metropolitan end points of Hiawatha and the Empire Builder are pretty much the same. It seems inevitable that reviving the southern route would siphon passengers from the northern route.
If the study finds it likely that overall traffic volume from the Midwest to the Northwest will grow enough to maintain ridership along the Hi-Line, then we’re all for it.
But if we’re just cutting a finite pool of riders in half, then maybe not so much.
Having passenger trains across southern Montana would be a novelty, convenient and energy efficient.
But the Hiawatha would not be essential to those cities in the same way as the Empire Builder is to the Hi-Line.
So, our message to Amtrak is this: Proceed with the study, but proceed with caution.