Empire Builder annulment reveals train’s vitality to a local economy

Detractors often deride Amtrak’s overnight trains—which offer the only alternative to driving and flying for Americans in hundreds of cities and towns, but require operating support from the federal government—as land cruises for the wealthy and retired. The trains’ many riders who aren’t wealthy or retired would beg to differ, but the extent to which trains facilitate leisure travel is no objection to government support of overnight trains as economic development engines, since tourism is an important industry in many parts of the country.

One of those is the region in northwest Montana surrounding Glacier National Park, and the effect that this summer’s month-and-a-half-long annulment of through operation of Amtrak’s Empire Builder due to flooding in Minot, North Dakota, had on tourism there is an excellent case in point. The Builder is the only form of intercity public transportation that goes directly to the park’s entrances, and allows visitors to arrive relaxed and refreshed. And, considering ever-rising gas prices and airfares, the Builder is often the most affordable way for Americans from across the country to experience this wonderous part of our national natural heritage.

My father and I were among the many vacationers who had booked a trip aboard the Builder from the East Coast for our first visit to the awe-inspiring park. We found out that floods would prevent our train from getting through North Dakota early enough to get a reasonable deal on a flight to the nearest airport (Glacier Park Airport in Kalispell, MT), but many similarly-situated would-be visitors decided to cancel their trips instead of enduring flights or long drives. Talking with the manager of the Izaak Walton Inn where we stayed, and with others, including Glacier Park rangers, we found out that visitation was down significantly compared to recent summers, almost entirely due to the train’s annulment. We also heard the stories of fellow guests who would have come by train, but were forced to undertake grueling drives of hundreds of miles, or (like us) had to take an inconvenient flight (ours arrived in Kalispell just before midnight—a flight at a more reasonable hour would have cost $200 more).

As this article in the local weekly Flathead Beacon shows, the tourism-based economy of the region, where unemployment hovers around 13 percent, took a significant hit during the months of June and July. This came despite the fact that the train still ran to Glacier to and from the West Coast—just not east of Havre, MT. While there is nothing Amtrak could have done about the whims of Mother Nature, the owners of hotels, shops, restaurants and other businesses along the park’s boundaries realized, in the train’s absence, what a boon it normally provides to their bottom lines. And this is a train that runs just once daily in each direction, and Glacier and the Grand Canyon are the only two major National Parks fortunate enough to be served by passenger trains.

Imagine the boost that a second daily frequency on the Builder route would provide to Glacier Park’s economy, and imagine how other tourist destinations currently not served by Amtrak would benefit if a new route were added. One of these is Yellowstone National Park, which would be served by a restored North Coast Hiawatha, a train Amtrak ran daily until 1979, when it fell victim to federal budget cuts. Conversely, imagine the harm that would be done if the cuts Congress is currently contemplating spelled the end of overnight trains like the Builder. It is doubtful that the Izaak Walton Inn—whose location is distant from a Park entrance and very remote, but for the Amtrak station at its doorseep—could stay in business without the train to serve it.

Amtrak, undercapitalized as it is, remains a lifeline for many communities—both for residents who travel but cannot or would rather not drive or fly, and for the businesses who depend on visitors arriving by train. They would be left high and dry if Amtrak were forced to terminate routes, and it is for them that Amtrak rightly receives taxpayer assistance. But should our leaders have the sense to dramatically increase investment in passenger trains—so that the national network can expand and become more reliable—cities and towns large and small will reap the economic, social and environmental benefits.

—Malcolm Kenton