Dan Astin Enterprise Staff Writer
September 10, 2025
Three-fourths of the Montana delegation to Washington, D.C. are officially on board the effort to restore long-distance passenger rail service in southern Montana.
Statements of support from Congressman Troy Downing, Sen. Steve Daines, and Sen. Tim Sheehy were issued this week during a passenger rail conference in Livingston, where local government officials, transportation experts, and other stakeholders from more than five states had gathered.
“Passenger rail services are an important component of communities across Montana, particularly in many of the rural communities I represent,” said Downing in a video recording showcased Tuesday during the three-day conference held by the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. “I look forward to continuing the conversation to ensure Montanans have access to efficient, reliable transportation.”
The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA) is a coalition of local governments, tribal nations, business leaders, and community advocates. Livingston City Manager Grant Gager is on the BSPRA board.
Daines also submitted a video to the conference expressing his support for resurrecting the former North Coast Hiawatha route, a 2,300+ mile long-distance passenger service from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. Amtrak discontinued service on the route, which maintained a Livingston stop until the 1970s. Utilizing preexisting freight lines, the newly proposed route could connect Helena, Missoula, Livingston, and other rural towns with passenger rail.
“Rail services help Montana,” Daines said in the recording released Tuesday. “It strengthens our economy and tourism industry. I’m fighting to keep rail travel affordable and to protect and expand routes across Montana.”
Sheehy called into the conference via a video call on Tuesday.
“Dave and I have been working on this project for years together,” said Sheehy, referencing BSPRA Chairman Dave Strohmaier. “It’s so exciting to see how far he and the product team have taken this these past few years. I’m happy and hopeful now in the position I am in to continue to support [this], and we will hopefully be seeing more progress in the near future.”
Sheehy cited the Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor, a 457-mile long electrified route connecting Washington, D.C., and Boston, via Philadelphia and New York City, as the only U.S. rail line receiving significant federal investment.
“I think to the detriment of this country, we have seen a shift away from passenger rail,” Sheehy said, referencing abandoned and shut-down railroad stations across the state. “I think you have tremendous tourism benefits, but also, there’s a lot of commonsense [resident] passenger rail benefits.”
Although Montana only has a population of approximately one million residents, the state receives 12 million visitors annually to Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, according to Sheehy.
“There’s so much more of Montana they can see,” Sheehy said. “Giving [tourists] a wider view of our state, allowing them to hop on the train in Glendive or Billings, and take it all the way west and see a lot of the rest our state has to offer… The injection of that into our economy could be tremendous, especially in some of our rural railroad communities.”
Montana rail improvements could also benefit the state’s timber industry, Sheehy added.
“There’ll be a bit of a collective benefit there as we see our timber industry return,” he said. “That will nest very well with a reviving railroad industry.”
Sheehy called passenger rail “a unique proposition for our large western states.”
“We have the interstate highway system,” he said. “Seventy years ago, it started to immediately challenge the economic viability of passenger rail. The past 35 years have been a bit of a soul-searching moment for passenger rail in America. I believe now is the time for a renaissance in that… Montana is the perfect place to see that happen.”
Following his statements, Sheehy was presented with an annual BSPRA Founders Award, recognizing his prior financial contributions and commitment to enhancing and expanding passenger rail service in Montana.
However, the Montana delegation isn’t of the same mind when it comes to this issue. Congressman Ryan Zinke is on record as being less-supportive of passenger rail expansions.
“The Congressman is opposed to additional federal funding for passenger rail,” stated Zinke’s press team in January. “The federal government already spends billions of taxpayer dollars a year on Amtrak and they can’t get it right. States like California spend billions trying to develop passenger rail and have nothing to show for the boondoggle. The Congressman believes now is the time to cut wasteful government spending, not increase it.”
The BSPRA slated to host its fifth annual conference in Helena, where information can be more easily accessible to state lawmakers, according an official announcement at the close of the event on Wednesday.