The Daily Interlake in Kalispell MT is reporting that Montana ssenators, Jon Tester and Max Baucus have
asked Amtrak to study instituting a new stop at Culbertson, midway between between Wolf Point Mt and
Williston ND to serve workers in the bakken oil basin. The story also states that the senators have also
worked to increase capacity on the Empire Builder, but I am not sure what the increase in capacity has been. Any ideas?
Why, oh why, does Amtrak ALWAYS have to be pushed from the outside? Putting a stop where people are should be something in their DNA.
Don: Could it be the expense of a ADA compliant station? Getting RR approval for a new station might require a station track ? That might be upwards of $5M.?? No station track $2M + ?
That wouldn’t be a reason not to look at where stations should be. Getting RR approval for platform wouldn’t be hard - it’s just a clearance issue. Getting time in the schedule may not be hard - it might actually help flow of other trains since it would bring the avg speed down. Worst comes to worst, if the new station generated more revenue than any of the others on the route - horse-trade them.
From the article, Don, it doesn’t suggest Amtrak is being “pushed.” Rather, Amtrak is willing to study adding a new stop in Culbertson. I suppose “study” may seem a slow bureaucratic approach. As the same time I personally am a deliberative guy and I don’t like being rushed into decisions so I can appreciate Amtrak’s perspective here.
John
Fare paying passengers are ‘outside’ Amtrak - therefore, since Amtrak views that area as ‘flyover’ territory - the passengers will have to push to get a stop. Even under the ‘build it and they will come’ strategy, the passengers will have to prove they are there; having a stop near the middle of nowhere will have to prove there is business near the middle of nowhere.
A new station stop at Culbertson would need to be ADA-compliant. And, being in Northeast Montana, it would need to have a heated shelter. So, it would be a substantial expense (the Culbertson station, built in the 1950s, is still in fairly good shape, and is used by BNSF; it was last used by passenger trains in 1971 when the Western Star stopped there).
Another reason for the request for the station stop is a litmus test to see if the State of Montana is willing to put up any money for it. States like Montana and North Dakota, who are actually in better shape financially than many others, have generally done nothing for their rail passenger service and expect the federal government to do it all (though North Dakota did help a bit in funding part of the renovation of the Empire Builder route near Devils Lake). The hope is that the state will participate, which might lead to more involvement over the (very) long run. Other things Montana could do is station improvements at nearly every Montana Amtrak station stop, fund Amtrak Thruway bus service to connect with the Empire Builder, and even chip in to buy more equipment (along with other states as part of an order for more bi-level long distance equipment, if there ever is such a thing again).
When the stimulus money was distributed for passenger train infrastructure improvements in the past few years, this was about the time many in Southern Montana wanted the federal government to shell out $1 billion for track upgrades and equipment for a North Coast Hiawatha because other states, like Vermont and Maine, received such monies. But they had to admit that Montana got funding directly in proportion to the amount of their past (financial) participation in Amtrak operations within the state of Montana since the inception of Amtrak: ZERO.
This is an attempt to get the state involved. It will be a long road, but
For people getting to the oil fields to their jobs it seems to me this stop could be very consequential. At present Amtrak has agreed to simply study it. I would hope the result of the study is based on the objective need for the stop. The need certainly could be greater than the population of Culbertson suggests.