Big Sky Passenger Rail

06/13/2026

06/09/2026

Registration is open for the 2026 Greater Northwest Rail Summit and BSPRA Annual Conference.

Join rail leaders, public officials, transportation professionals, manufacturers, tourism advocates, economic development organizations and community stakeholders from across the Greater Northwest in Helena, Montana, August 25–27, 2026.

Co-hosted by the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority and the PNWER Regional Infrastructure Accelerator, this three-day gathering will focus on passenger and freight rail, regional connectivity, economic opportunity, workforce, tourism and the Big Sky North Coast Corridor.

As work continues to advance passenger rail across Montana and the Greater Northwest, these conversations matter.

Learn more and register:
https://bigskyrailmt.gov/2026-gnwrs-bspra-annual-meeting

City of Helena, Local Government Rail Passengers Association All Aboard Washington Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers High Speed Rail Alliance All Aboard Minnesota

06/05/2026

More views of BNSF Railway’s America 250 locomotive in Missoula, shared by Commissioner Dave Strohmaier.

06/04/2026

BNSF Railway has unveiled a special locomotive wrap commemorating America’s 250th anniversary.

As an ex officio member of the BSPRA Board, BNSF is an important partner in the broader rail conversation across Montana and the Greater Northwest.

From the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora to communities across the Big Sky North Coast Corridor, America 250 is also an opportunity to think about how rail can connect the next chapter of our national story.

06/03/2026

This Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library post is a reminder of what passenger rail once made possible across the country: leaders could reach communities far beyond major cities, and people in those communities could see their government show up.

The whistle-stop tradition was about more than speeches from the back of a train. It was about connection, visibility and the idea that smaller communities mattered in national life.

Passenger rail has always been about more than transportation. It connects rural communities, public institutions, workers, families, visitors and civic life across long distances.

As work continues to advance the Big Sky North Coast Corridor, that same idea still matters: communities deserve to be seen, connected and served.

in 1903, the presidential train was rolling across Iowa on its way home.

Theodore Roosevelt had been gone from Washington for some nine weeks, covering roughly 14,000 miles by rail — the Badlands, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the redwoods, the Pacific. Now the long loop was closing. June 2 alone carried him through Denison, Fort Dodge, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Dubuque.

These were "whistle-stops": the train would slow, a crowd would press up to the back platform, and the President would speak for a few minutes from the rear railing before the wheels turned again. He gave hundreds of these talks on the tour — sometimes seven or eight in a single day.

At Denison, Roosevelt didn't dwell on scenery. He spoke about the hard season the country was having — floods and storms that had battered the heartland — and about the steady virtues he returned to again and again: honesty in public life, fair dealing, and the plain decency of ordinary citizens helping one another through trouble.

It's a reminder that the bully pulpit wasn't only marble halls and grand occasions. Sometimes it was a man on the back of a train, hat in hand, talking straight to the people who came out to meet him.

06/03/2026

Father’s Day, graduations and summer travel are all good reminders that meaningful gifts can also support a meaningful mission.

The BSPRA shop includes official Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority merchandise, the Empire Builder Collection, and one-of-a-kind Greater Northwest Passenger Rail items created especially for BSPRA by Xplorer Maps.

The Empire Builder Collection is available with gratitude to artist Michael Schwab, whose iconic rail artwork helps celebrate the beauty and legacy of passenger rail in the Greater Northwest.

The Xplorer Maps collection includes limited-edition signed and numbered fine-art giclée collector’s prints, custom wire-bound map notebooks and other Greater Northwest rail-themed gifts.

Every purchase helps support outreach, public awareness and continued advocacy for restoring passenger rail across Montana and the Greater Northwest.

Shop here:
https://bigskyrailmt.gov/shop

06/01/2026

Borealis is proof of demand.

Amtrak’s Borealis has carried more than 416,000 passengers since launching in 2024, far exceeding early expectations.

That matters far beyond one route.

Borealis added another daily option between the Twin Cities and Chicago, complementing the Empire Builder and giving travelers a practical, useful rail connection.

For Montana and the Greater Northwest, the lesson is clear: passenger rail demand is not theoretical. When service is reliable, useful and connected to where people need to go, people use it.

The Big Sky North Coast Corridor is part of that same larger conversation: reconnecting communities, expanding mobility and building a passenger rail network that serves more of America.

Congratulations to the advocates, communities and rail partners who helped make Borealis possible. All Aboard Minnesota Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition High Speed Rail Alliance Rail Passengers Association

Railroad industry news about: Amtrak, Borealis, Empire Builder, Chicago, Twin Cities, passenger rail. From the editors of Progressive Railroading Magazine

05/30/2026

Always fascinating to read about James J. Hill
This documentary series is well worth watching, too.

https://www.pbs.org/show/the-empire-builder-james-j-hill-and-the-great-northern-railway/

May 29, 1916: James Jerome Hill dies in Saint Paul, Minnesota at the age of 78.

Hill was born in Rockwood- near Guelph, Ontario in 1838.

After moving to the United States, Hill became a member of the syndicate that would build the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1883 he resigned in protest to the decision to build the CPR main line north of Lake Superior rather than through the U.S.

J.J. Hill became a mogul of railway expansion from his adopted home of Saint Paul, later constructing what would be come the Great Northern Railway from St. Paul to Seattle, Washington. This was Ithe only transcontinental line built without federal subsidy.

The Hill family had many impacts that are still visible today, including his former mansion home in Saint Paul on Summit Avenue.

Hill’s legacy is still commemorated with Great Northern’s best known passenger train, still running under the flag of Amtrak. The “Empire Builder”.

05/28/2026

Congratulations to Mountain Line and the Missoula Urban Transportation District on being named the 2026 Large Community Transportation System of the Year by the Community Transportation Association of America.

This is a well-deserved national recognition for a Montana transit leader.

Mountain Line has helped show what community-centered public transportation can look like: seven-day-a-week service, more than a decade of zero-fare service, major investment in battery-electric buses and partnerships that connect people to work, services and community.

For BSPRA, this recognition matters. Local transit, intercity connections and passenger rail are all part of a stronger, more connected transportation future for Montana.

Congratulations to Mountain Line, MUTD and all of this year’s CTAA award winners.

Read more:
https://ctaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-CTAA-Awards-Winners-Press-Release.pdf

FYI Missoula County, Montana - Government Montana Department of Transportation

05/26/2026

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Philip Aaberg, one of Montana’s great artists.

Phil’s music carried the sound and spirit of Montana: its plains, distance, beauty, memory and sense of place.

He also understood what passenger rail means for rural Montanans. Last winter, Phil wrote to BSPRA after speaking up in support of the southern route, recalling his own many trips by train from Chester to Spokane, Harvard and beyond as part of a life in music, study and performance.

Those few sentences said more than many formal reports ever could. Passenger rail is about access, opportunity, connection and the ability of people from rural communities to reach the wider world.

BSPRA had hoped to welcome Phil as part of our Helena conference. We are grateful for the possibility of that connection, for his encouragement and for the extraordinary body of work he leaves behind.

Phil signed his messages with Brian Wilson’s words: “Listen...listen...listen.”

Today, that feels like the right reminder.

Our thoughts are with his family, friends, fellow musicians and all who were touched by his music.

Thank you, Philip Aaberg / Sweetgrass Music for giving Montana a sound all its own.

Philip Aaberg
April 8, 1949 - May 23, 2026

A beautiful life well lived through family, friends and music. And of course fly fishing.

Phil passed peacefully Saturday evening surrounded by Patty, his sons Jake and Michael and his brother Steve.

It was very clear by all of the comments on the last update that Phil was loved by many - we are so grateful for the community that has surrounded him over the years, and now.

Listen to his music, cast a line, and continue to share your favorite Phil stories.