Oct. 31, 2017 marks the 30th anniversary for Montana Rail Link, a Class II regional operating more than 900 miles of main line and branch trackage from Jones Junction (Huntley), Mont., west to Sandpoint, Idaho, with trackage rights beyond Sandpoint to Spokane, Wash., over BNSF.
Deep snowpack at higher elevations, an early spring thaw, and heavy rainfall are severely affecting rail lines in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in the panhandle of northern Idaho.
Montana Rail Link (MRL), a Class II regional railroad that operates over 900 route miles of track in Montana and Idaho, is currently constructing four tracks west of Laurel, Mont. at Spurling to be used as a staging area for westbound trains. The 12-month project is in the construction phase and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2016.
One of the more challenging capacity constraints affecting BNSF’s Northern Corridor is the 4,769-foot long bridge across Lake Pend Oreille outside Sandpoint, Idaho, not far from where BNSF and Montana Rail Link (MRL) converge. BNSF is now looking into the bold concept of building a second bridge, nearly a mile long, adjacent to the existing one.
Oregon’s Department of State Lands on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, denied a permit for construction of a coal export project on the Columbia River to bolster international coal export.