Austin MT 8 23 05xRPRP - Flickr - drewj1946

Montana Rail Link is a privately held Class II railroad in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It operates on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

. MRL is a unit of

The Washington Companies The Washington Companies is the parent company of several independent entities. The company is privately held, and was founded by Dennis Washington. Current companies owned by The Washington Company include: * Seaspan Corporation (shipping and sh ...

and is headquartered in

Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. The railroad runs between

Huntley, Montana Huntley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. The population was 411 at the 2000 census. Huntley lent its name to the Huntley Project, a federal irrigation project that began delivering water to the ar ...

and

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, largely within Montana, and the main line passes through the towns of

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

, Bozeman,

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

, and Helena. Montana Rail Link connects with the

on both ends and also in

Garrison, Montana Garrison is a census-designated place (CDP) in Powell County, Montana, United States. The population was 112 at the 2000 census. The traditional Salish name for the area that was later named Garrison Junction is ''snx̣ʷq̓pusaqs''. Groups wo ...

. The railroad has over of track, serves 100 stations, and employs approximately 1,000 personnel. The main classification yard is in Laurel, Montana, with engine roundhouse and repair and mechanical facilities in Livingston, Montana, and with smaller yards located in Missoula, Billings, Bozeman and Helena. In January 2022, MRL and BNSF agreed on an early lease termination to return control of the line to BNSF. This now awaits approval by the Surface Transportation Board.

History

Montana Rail Link's present status and main line date back to October 31, 1987, when MRL under Missoula businessman

Dennis Washington Dennis R. Washington (born 1934) is an American billionaire industrialist who owns, or co-owns controlling interests in, a large consortium of privately held companies collectively known as the Washington Companies and, in Canada, another collec ...

commenced a 60-year lease of

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...

's southern Montana main line between Sandpoint,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

and

, near Billings.Montana Rail Link to bow out ''

Trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

'' April 2022 page 4 This spin-off was controversial as it happened during contract negotiations between Burlington Northern and the

United Transportation Union The United Transportation Union (UTU) was a broad-based, transportation labor union that represented about 70,000 active and retired railroad, bus, mass transit, and airline workers in the United States. The UTU was headquartered in Cleveland, ...

. MRL workers are represented by various unions. Montana Rail Link trains operate between Billings and Spokane using trackage rights over BN successor

's tracks connecting those points. MRL boxcar

Montana Rail Link still uses

caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in railway switch, switching and Shunting (rail), shunting, keeping a l ...

s, which are used to carry remote control switching equipment on Laurel switch engines. A significant number of MRL movements are actually BNSF trains, complete with locomotives, that MRL receives at one end of its track and forwards back to BNSF at the other end. MRL also operates trains of its own to gather and distribute local freight along its lines. Forest products and grain are primary commodities, and MRL also operates a special train, called the Gas Local, between Missoula and Thompson Falls, Montana, to bridge a gap in a long-distance gasoline pipeline. On September 8, 2005, Montana Rail Link took delivery of locomotive number 4300, the first of 16 new

EMD SD70ACe The EMD SD70 is a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel in response to the GE Dash 9-44CW. Production commenced in late 1992 and since then over 5,700 units have been produced; most of these are t ...

locomotives. This was the first locomotive that the railroad has ordered new from a manufacturer, and it and the rest of the class were intended to replace aging

SD40 SD40 may refer to: * Canon PowerShot SD40, a digital camera * EMD SD40 The EMD SD40 is an American 6-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and August 1972. 1,268 locomotives were buil ...

and

SD45 The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2022, mos ...

locomotives on trains crossing the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

over the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

Mullan Pass Mullan Pass is a mountain pass in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. It sits on the Continental Divide on the border between Powell and Lewis and Clark counties at 5,902 feet (1,799 m) above sea level. Located in ...

near Helena, Montana and

Bozeman Pass Bozeman Pass el. is a mountain pass situated approximately east of Bozeman, Montana and approximately west of Livingston, Montana on Interstate 90. It separates the Bridger and Gallatin mountain ranges. It is named after pioneer John Bozeman ...

near Bozeman, Montana. In January 2022, BNSF agreed to pay MRL $2 billion for an early lease termination. The return to BNSF control will require the approval of the Surface Transportation Board before taking effect.

1989 Helena Train Wreck

One of the most severe accidents in MRL history was the Helena Train Wreck of February 2, 1989, when 48 decoupled rail cars rolled into Helena, hit a parked work train, caught fire and exploded. While property damage was extensive, there were no casualties.

2014 Alberton derailment

On July 3, 2014, a MRL train with 90 railcars derailed near Alberton, Montana, en route from Laurel, Montana to

. Twenty cars derailed, including three containing

hazardous materials Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllab ...

and six

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

fuselages. The 737 fuselages had been built in Kansas at

Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fu ...

and were being shipped to Renton, Washington, for final assembly. Three of the fuselages fell down an embankment, with two reaching the Clark Fork River. The six fuselages were recovered and scrapped within the month.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montana Rail Link Regional railroads in the United States Idaho railroads Montana railroads Washington (state) railroads Spin-offs of the Burlington Northern Railroad Companies operating former Great Northern Railway (U.S.) lines Companies operating former Northern Pacific Railway lines Railway companies established in 1987 1987 establishments in Montana