Dentist wants to run Montana shortline
(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 fishi