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Montana

2 buyers · 2 tenders · checked 2026-10-08

A thin rail market: one Amtrak grant at Malta, an MDT railroad underpass at Belgrade, and a twelve-county authority planning a southern route.

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0Metro systems operating

2Buyers tracked

2Tenders tracked

3Cities tracked

Live pipeline: $14.9m FRA Federal-State Partnership grant to Amtrak at Malta (federal share); $48m Belgrade Urban total construction cost (MDT, includes a $25m grant); Corridor ID planning grant of $500,000 and a $3.2m Helena crossing planning grant sit below the US$5m floor
Technology areas: Track & civil, Signalling & train control

Key figures

Montana active railover 3,000 milesMontana's active rail network per MDT's draft 2026 State Freight Plan; BNSF is the primary Class I and Union Pacific reaches the Port of Montana near Butte.

1 source · primary

● MDT - 2026 Draft Montana State Freight Plan · Draft plan (194 pages): rail chapter on network, operators, Montana Rail Link handback, crossings, ports; notes the Amtrak Malta award and the 2024 Belgrade grant (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-10-08)

MRL returned to BNSF1 January 2024Date Montana Rail Link ended operations and BNSF took over the former lines as its MRL Subdivision; MDT's draft freight plan puts MRL's operated and leased track at nearly 900 miles.

3 sources · all primary

● US Fish and Wildlife Service - Montana Rail Link partner page · Montana Rail Link discontinued all active rail operations on 1 January 2024; BNSF assumed operations across the former lines as the MRL Subdivision of its Montana Division. A federal agency page, not a railroad or STB record (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● MDT - 2026 Draft Montana State Freight Plan · Draft plan (194 pages): rail chapter on network, operators, Montana Rail Link handback, crossings, ports; notes the Amtrak Malta award and the 2024 Belgrade grant (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-10-08)
● Federal Register - BNSF Railway, Trackage Rights Exemption, Montana Rail Link (FD 36693) · STB notice of exemption of 3 May 2023 citing the Board's decision served 8 March 2023 permitting MRL to discontinue service over BNSF-leased lines; BNSF takes trackage rights over about 65.7 miles of MRL branch lines (published 2023-05-03 · checked 2026-10-08)

Public at-grade crossingsover 1,350 public at-grade crossingsMDT's draft freight plan count; the 2016 Rail Grade Separation Study screened ten crossings for grade separation, seven in Billings, Bozeman, Belgrade and Helena.

1 source · primary

● MDT - 2026 Draft Montana State Freight Plan · Draft plan (194 pages): rail chapter on network, operators, Montana Rail Link handback, crossings, ports; notes the Amtrak Malta award and the 2024 Belgrade grant (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-10-08)

Corridor ID grant$500,000FRA Corridor ID planning grant to the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (2023); the programme runs in three steps, with Step 2 in 2026-2028 and a service launch targeted for the early to mid 2030s.

2 sources · all primary

● BSPRA - Fast Facts sheet (February 2026) · Two-page PDF: 2023 FRA Corridor ID grant of $500,000; Step I 2024-2026, Step II 2026-2028, Step III from 2028; non-federal match 10 and 20 percent; service target early to mid 2030s (published 2026-02 · checked 2026-10-08)
● BSPRA - Press Releases · Press release of 19 August 2026 on the Helena rail summit: corridor advancing through Step 2 of the FRA Corridor ID programme, eight-state corridor of about 2,300 miles (published 2026-08-19 · checked 2026-10-08)

Latest State Rail Plan2010 planThe most recent State Rail Plan MDT lists on its rail page is the 2010 plan, now archived; MDT's current planning product is the 2026 State Freight Plan, in draft with finalisation expected in January 2027.

2 sources · all primary

● MDT - Rail in Montana · MDT overview of its limited rail role: grade crossings, the Montana Essential Freight Rail Loan Program, Empire Builder support, ownership of the Moccasin to Geraldine track leased to Central Montana Railroad, and the list of rail plans (2010 State Rail Plan archived) (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● MDT - 2026 Montana Freight Plan Update · MDT page: freight plan update began July 2025, draft closed for comment on 16 September 2026, finalisation anticipated January 2027 (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-10-08)

Buyers

Buyer	Type	Tenders	Contracts awarded
Montana Department of Transportation - Rail, Transit and Planning	State DOT	1	0
Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority	State SPV	0	0

Tenders

Tender	Buyer	Status	Value band	Next key date
Belgrade Urban railroad underpass	MDT Rail	Planned	$25–100m
Malta Empire Builder track and signal upgrade	Amtrak	Planned	$5–25m

Cities

City	Network status	Networks
Malta	Empire Builder station on the BNSF Milk River Subdivision in Phillips County; site of the Amtrak track, bridge and signal upgrade funded by a 2026 Federal-State Partnership grant.
Helena	State capital on the BNSF line; the city holds a 2025 federal grant to plan a grade separation at the Montana Avenue rail crossing.
Whitefish	Busiest of Montana's Amtrak Empire Builder stations; a BNSF corridor crossing study with three at-grade crossings was funded by a 2024 FRA planning grant.

Withheld in the free surface

Capex in this region (2)
Live pipeline value
Market narrative

Full detail withheld: 3 fields. In the United States edition · See a fully open example

Rail loan fund (2)

Full detail withheld: 1 field. In the United States edition · See a fully open example

Sources

● BSPRA - Corridor ID Program · BSPRA page: accepted into FRA Corridor ID in December 2023; planning team led by David Evans and Associates; Big Sky North Coast Corridor (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● US Fish and Wildlife Service - Montana Rail Link partner page · Montana Rail Link discontinued all active rail operations on 1 January 2024; BNSF assumed operations across the former lines as the MRL Subdivision of its Montana Division. A federal agency page, not a railroad or STB record (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● MDT - 2026 Draft Montana State Freight Plan · Draft plan (194 pages): rail chapter on network, operators, Montana Rail Link handback, crossings, ports; notes the Amtrak Malta award and the 2024 Belgrade grant (published 2026-09 · checked 2026-10-08)
● MDT - Discretionary/Competitive Grant Programs · MDT page on IIJA discretionary grant applications and local grant support requests (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● MDT - Rail in Montana · MDT overview of its limited rail role: grade crossings, the Montana Essential Freight Rail Loan Program, Empire Builder support, ownership of the Moccasin to Geraldine track leased to Central Montana Railroad, and the list of rail plans (2010 State Rail Plan archived) (published undated · checked 2026-10-08)
● USAspending - FRA award FR-TII-0046-17 (City of Kalispell) · Glacier Rail Park / Kalispell core area development: $10,000,000 federal award, period 1 August 2017 to 30 June 2022 (published 2017-08-01 · checked 2026-10-08)
● USAspending - FRA award 69A36525422210CRSMT (Montana State University) · CRISI rail workforce award of $6,426,925 for three regional transportation workforce centres (Montana State, Memphis, Cal State Long Beach), 1 August 2025 to 31 January 2031 (published 2025-08-01 · checked 2026-10-08)
● USAspending - FRA awards with Montana place of performance · spending_by_award search of Federal Railroad Administration awards, place of performance Montana, 1 October 2020 to 8 October 2026: seven records, the largest being the Amtrak Malta award (published 2026-10-08 · checked 2026-10-08)

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