Tester gets $166 million for Amtrak. Daily service to return in 90 days

[Ptah]

Daily passenger rail service aboard Amtrak will return to Montana’s Hi-Line within the next 90 days, after a bill drafted by Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s secured an additional $166 million in grants for the beleaguered national rail carrier. Tester's bill was passed by the U.S. Senate along party lines on Saturday, as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

Service along Amtrak's Empire Builder long-distance passenger line, which serves 12 communities along Montana's Hi-Line, was cut from seven-days a week to just three last October, after ridership dropped to just five-percent of pre-pandemic levels.


On Feb. 23, Tester introduced legislation to reinstate furloughed Amtrak employees and return complete service to the Empire Builder, as well as to the 14 other long-distance routes across the country that Amtrak currently operates.

“Folks on the Hi-Line depend on Amtrak to stay connected, and its full return will boost the economy and create good-paying jobs across the region,” Tester said upon introducing the legislation. “Returning Amtrak service to northern Montana has been one of my top priorities since the service was cut, and I won’t stop fighting until this bill is signed into law by the President and the Empire Builder is fully restored.”

https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2021/03/09/daily-amtrak-rail-service-return-montana-hi-line/4630446001/