During the spring this year, eastern Montana and North Dakota got a lot of rain. That caused rivers to rise and trains to be rerouted due to flooding. It led to mudslides that closed different sections of track for anywhere between a few hours and a few days. The rivers are about 12 times their normal height, although at this point are not considered flooding anymore. Western Montana has mountains, which still have snow on them. Every year, in June, rivers rise as that snow all melts off. So now we are in the predicament where the rivers are already very high, just a few feet below flooding, and the snow is finally melting, sending more water down the rivers. On the former Northern Pacific, while the river is very high, we have not had any flooding issues yet. On the Hi-Line, the former Great Northern, on the other hand, the tracks are under water in some places. There is significant flooding in the Minot, ND, area. Because of that flooding, the trains that normally operate on the Hi-Line have to go somewhere else. The low priority ones are being delayed until the flooding stops. BNSF estimates that the line will be flooded for 10 to 14 days. It could be several more weeks until the line is back to full service, depending on the flood damage.
The higher priority trains operating on the Hi-Line cannot simply be cancelled, because customers are paying big money to have those trains arrive on time. They will not arrive on time, but there is no sense delaying them upwards of a month. Instead, they are all being rerouted on the former Northern Pacific, or right through the area I work. Typically the Hi-Line has a lot of intermodal and vehicle trains, which we almost never see here. We are on a coal route, so we mostly have coal trains. When things are operating normally, we have exactly one intermodal train, which is usually only five to eight loads. It goes to Billings. Yesterday however, I was assigned to a train full of shiny, new Hondas, all bound for Albany, NY, Ayer, MA, and Wilmington, DE. That train would normally have operated over the Hi-Line.
While we get some more unusual trains through this way when the Hi-Line is closed, it leads to some operational problems. The Hi-Line is all controlled by Centralized Traffic Control, or CTC, it has high speed switches, and it is mostly two main tracks. Trains are able to operate at a higher speed on the Hi-Line, and the line has a capacity for more trains and longer trains. When all those trains come here, they have to operate slower, and fewer of them can operate at a time. Because of this, dispatch has chosen to make the railroad an eastbound railroad. We take a van or bus to Forsyth, and then we catch a train back to Glendive. They can operate more trains if they are all going in the same direction. They only run what westbound trains have to run, and for the crew that gets that, it is a very long day, because they meet dozens of eastbound trains. Part of the reasoning behind this is that the trains that normally operate on the Hi-Line are longer than most of the sidings we have here. When a train is 8,000 feet long, and only one siding every 150 miles can hold it, it really makes arranging meets difficult. There is simply nowhere to put the train. Having most of the trains going the same direction also makes that less of a problem. The few westbound trains can meet the really long ones just about anywhere.
When the Hi-Line was closed, there was one high priority train that did not get detoured. That was Amtrak's Empire Builder. There were rumors that it would be detoured, but it just does not make sense. The detours are effective from Spokane, WA, to Fargo, ND. It could be shortened to Shelby, MT, on the west end, but that still would mean Amtrak would miss a lot of the normal stops, and be making stops nowhere near the regular ones. Instead, Amtrak chose to run the train near the ends, with a gap in the middle, and no alternate transportation. Even if Amtrak chose to detour on this route, the speed limit is lower, and the switches are mostly limited to 10 mph, so Amtrak would incur huge delays, again making it impractical. So Amtrak will be canceled until water levels drop and the track gets inspected and repaired. The important freight trains will continue to run, but on this line, the old Northern Pacific, and we will all spend less time in Forsyth as a result. I'm okay with that!
On a side note, here is a bit of trivia for you. The Great Northern Railway was built by James J. Hill, who was known for being fiercely independent. The rail line was built from Minneapolis to Seattle, and as a result of Mr. Hill's independence, it was the only western railroad completed with no federal subsidy.
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