Flooding Halts Amtrak's Northwest Service

Amtrak's Empire Builder route

(Billings, MT-YPR) Amtrak has temporarily shut down its Empire Builder passenger rail service between St. Paul, MN and Spokane, WA because of flooding in Minot, North Dakota.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said that, as of Wednesday afternoon, the basement of the Amtrak station was flooded and there was up to two feet of water around the building.

Magliari says no passengers were on the Empire Builder when service was halted yesterday. Passengers who are holding tickets on that route through Sunday can either ask for a full refund or hold on to their tickets and re-book for up to a year. “Later this week, we’ll be in a position to better understand how the water is receding so we can resume service next week,” he says.

Amtrak relies on Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail lines for the Empire Builder route. Magliari says crews are inspecting rail beds and bridges in North Dakota.

BNSF is also continuing to inspect its lines in Montana. Flooding last week closed a rail line from Billings, MT to the coal-rich Powder River Basin area on the Montana-Wyoming border.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said that line was shut down for two days, but rail traffic is up and running on the company’s main lines.

Melonas said high water is still affecting BNSF traffic on a secondary line from south of Laurel, MT to Greybull, WY, and that maintenance and engineering crews are working on numerous lines.  He said in the Billings area alone, over 200 rail cars filled with rock was placed along the tracks to stabilize the rail bed.

According to Melonas, this has been one of the worst winter and spring seasons on record for the railway.  This past winter, crews had to deal with snow drifts as high as 20 feet in near Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. He also said that crews have also been dealing with slides from constant rain in Washington state; in Montana and North Dakota flooding.