Passenger rail service with stop in Jamestown could begin in 8 to 10 years

Yahoo

01-03-2025

Mar. 1—JAMESTOWN — Passenger rail service from Chicago to Seattle, which includes a stop in Jamestown, could begin in eight to 10 years, according to Dave Strohmaier, chair of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.
Strohmaier said the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority is in the process of developing a project scope and budget to restore passenger rail service from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest.
"We hope to finish the scoping phase later this spring, April or May," he said.
He said service development planning will take about 18 to 24 months and then a final design will be made for the passenger rail service project. He said construction on the project could begin in about three years.
The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority held a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 27, to discuss the restoration of the North Coast Hiawatha Chicago to Seattle route. Local officials and city of Jamestown staff attended the meeting that was held online at City Hall.
"We look at this as kind of a transformative opportunity for our community and for the state of North Dakota," Councilman David Steele said, referring to Jamestown being a stop on the route. "I think we would have strong community support."
The Federal Railroad Administration awarded a $ 500,000 grant from its Corridor Identification and Development Program to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority to restore passenger rail service on the former North Coast Hiawatha Chicago to Seattle route, which is known as the Big Sky North Coast Corridor. Passenger rail projects in Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha are overseen by the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.
The grant that the authority is working under is not in jeopardy with the pause in federal grants, said Becky Rosenleaf, a member of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority's consulting team for corridor identification.
The Big Sky North Coast Corridor would go through eight states from Chicago to Seattle, including southern Montana and North Dakota. The route would go through Fargo, Jamestown, Bismarck and Dickinson.
"It's important to lay out, in our estimation, a bold vision for what passenger rail in the 21st century can look like and first and foremost for us this means high-performance rail," Strohmaier said.
He said the concept of high-performance rail includes both freight and passenger operations.
"We're looking at how do we enhance the financial viability of this route and of this service," he said. "One way to do that is looking at ways to bring a more entrepreneurial spirit to the table, creative spirit that's looking for ways to enhance revenue, which might be reinstating something like small parcel delivery that once existed in conjunction with passenger trains in this nation."
Strohmaier said the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority is developing a route that would include two trains in each direction daily, ensuring that every community with a stop has at least one daylight train.
He said 21st century trains would be used on the route and the authority is looking at the feasibility of and possibility of trains with hydrogen fuel cells.
The No. 1 factor in determining locations for train stations is the local initiative and commitment and cooperation between surrounding areas, said Dan Bucks, a citizen volunteer for the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.
"I would urge communities that are interested in train stations to think of the rail line not simply as the tracks and the facilities that would be in their community ... but rather ... that it is a corridor of opportunity that stretches depending on terrain up to 90 miles away either direction from your train station," he said.
He said the locations would need to show the socio-economic benefits of the service and the ridership relative to population needs to be high.
The Federal Railroad Administration will make the final decision on the locations when approving the service development plan for the route.
Bucks said likely sites would include larger cities that have a wide variety of trade and service areas, including retail, medical, education, cultural opportunities and other professional services.
"Gateways to major destinations such as national parks, historic rail station locations will be looked at again as likely sites for stations," he said. "... Locations are needed to maintain the trains, to refuel them, to resupply the items that are used in transit along the route. Those locations with the railyards and the appropriate supply connections are also going to be likely sites."
He said communities committed to using passenger rail to develop opportunities for their citizens and the surrounding area will increase their likelihood of being selected as a location for a stop.
Bucks said the train stations will be about 50 miles apart on average. The stops could be closer if there are gateways to different areas such as Yellowstone National Park.
He also said the route has potential to develop sub-theme bison and native cultures.
"There are several communities that have a connection to bison-related destinations along this route," he said.
Steele said Jamestown is home of the World's Largest Buffalo monument and has several smaller communities in the surrounding area.
Steele said one issue in Jamestown includes four railway crossings being close together in the center of the city. He said the concern with that would be the length of time a train would be stopped and blocking the crossings.
"We have very limited access for emergency vehicles if a train is on our tracks blocking the crossings," he said. "We do have an aged viaduct that is not capable of large safety equipment to travel, and we do not have an overpass to go over the tracks."
Bucks said communities should look at eliminating grade crossings to ensure a smoother flow of traffic. Grade crossing elimination is the process of removing a point where a road intersects with a railroad track at the same level.
Strohmaier said there won't be mile-long passenger trains.
"That would be one of the goals to try to achieve, and that is trains that are stopped at a station are not simultaneously blocking crossings," he said.
He said the length of a train stop would depend on a number of variables, including if it is a refueling station and a location for small-parcel delivery.
Another issue for the city of Jamestown includes not having a train depot, Steele said.
"We would have to reestablish a building site and create a building itself," he said.
He said the city's preference is to have a station in downtown Jamestown. He said discussions have been held to have more than one service for the station.
"We don't have a real bus station in town so maybe a combination of the two would work ... depending on probably location," he said. "Opportunities would probably be for rental car services and things like that."
Strohmaier said communities wanting a stop on the route should update any transportation planning documents with a reference to the passenger rail service.
"For you all out there who are planners and going after grant funds, you know full well the importance of being able to connect and create a nexus between your ask and some planning that you've done already," he said.
He also said mixed-use and transit-oriented development is important for communities.
"Some of the tools that you can use for this would be urban renewal districts, tax increment finance districts, bringing those financial instruments to bear to not just create a station or a platform where you get on and off a train, but creating a hub of activity that supports commercial, residential and retail development before we move on," he said.
Strohmaier said communities should contact their state and congressional officials to get support for the project. He said $200,000 from each state will be needed to secure a 10% nonfederal match grant for the service development phase.