Tell the Lewis & Clark County Commissioners to get “on board” with Passenger Rail through Helena!

The North Coast Hiawatha Rail Route has not run through Montana since 1980, but the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA) was formed in November 2020 to help revive the passenger rail line. Although Lewis and Clark County is one of the proposed counties through which the rail will run, the county commissioners have not yet joined the BSPRA. Seventeen counties that the proposed rail will pass through are already BSPRA members. Passenger Rail will bring social, economic, and environmental benefits to the county and the city of Helena. If the county does not join the BSPRA, Helena will be at a disadvantage when it comes to planning, execution, grants and other funding opportunities for the rail line.

Add your name to the petition below to ask the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners to join the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority and support passenger rail through Helena!

Proposed route of the passenger rail line. (Click photo to enlarge.)

For more information on the North Coast Hiawatha Route and Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA), don’t miss our free public forum, hosted by Sleeping Giant Citizens Council on Tuesday, January 25th. Learn more and register here. 

PETITION TO SUPPORT PASSENGER RAIL THROUGH LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY

The objective of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA), created in November 2020, is to re-establish passenger rail, for the first time since 1980, along the old North Coast Hiawatha Route of the Milwaukee Road across southern Montana. The route would likely pass through Helena in Lewis and Clark County. According to Title 7 of the Montana Codes Annotated, by which BSPRA was established, governance of the Authority is through membership of counties that might benefit from passenger rail service. Seventeen of the twenty-four counties along the line have joined the Authority at this time, not including Lewis and Clark County. The exclusion of our county could put Helena at a disadvantage in the initial planning process, routing, future grant possibilities, train scheduling, and more.

We the undersigned support the restoration of passenger rail service through Lewis and Clark County, and we urge our County Commissioners to join the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority.