Page 6 - Flathead Beacon // 4.2.14

6 | APRIL 2, 2014 NEWS
FLATHEADBEACON.COM

READER

POLL

FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Are You Optimistic About
Flathead County’s Economy?

The Uhlein family
from England,
Donna, Jerry,
Max and Mil-
lie, left to right,
gather their
59% YES 41% NO belongings after
disembarking
TOTAL VOTES: 141
from the east
bound Amtrak
train in White-
Should There be Increased ish.
Limits for Designating
BEACON FILE PHOTO
National Monuments?
Amtrak Modiies Schedule as Delays Persist

Passenger train will National Association of Railroad Passen- Also, starting April 27, the train will stop
gers likened the congestion to a “logjam” in East Glacier Park instead of Browning,
travel through Northwest and blamed the massive increase in crude to accommodate passengers visiting Gla-
oil coming out of the Bakken region. Oil cier National Park. The westbound train
Montana earlier and later trains are now traveling every day through will also run later, arriving in Whiteish at
49% YES 51% NO starting April 15
the Flathead Valley.
10:26 p.m., more than an hour later than it

TOTAL VOTES: 129
Besides freight congestion, derail- usually does. According to Jim Brzezinski,
ments and avalanches on Marias Pass this route director for the Empire Builder, the
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
winter also put a dent in the Empire Build- passenger railroad hopes to return to its
er’s on-time performance. In February, normal schedule sometime in June.
Should Jordan Graham After a dismal winter for its Empire
the westbound train, No. 7, was on-time “We are working closely with BNSF
Receive Life in Prison?
Builder passenger train, Amtrak is modi- 3.6 percent of the time. During that same Railway, which owns the tracks and con-
fying the schedule between Chicago, Se- period, train No. 8, the eastbound train, trols the dispatching of the Empire Build-
attle and Portland to deal with increased was never on time. In the last year, the er trains between St. Paul, Minn. and the

freight congestion in Montana and North entire service, including eastbound and West Coast, in order to publish a schedule
Dakota. The new schedule goes into ef- westbound trains, has been on schedule 22 that accounts for the freight train conges-
fect April 15 and will see the train travel percent of the time.
tion and the condition of the BNSF-owned
through Northwest Montana earlier in the By modifying the schedule, Amtrak infrastructure,” Brzezinski said.
morning and later in the evening.
hopes to get passengers to their destina- In a statement to the Beacon, BNSF
Amtrak’s Empire Builder runs east tion on the advertised time, not hours lat- spokesperson Matt Jones said the freight
76YES 24NO and west every day through the area, mak- er. Starting April 15, trains leaving Seattle railroad values its partnership with Am-
% %
TOTAL VOTES: 144
ing stops in Libby, Whiteish, West Glacier, and Portland will depart three hours earli- trak and hopes that capacity added to its
Essex and Browning. In recent months er at 1:40 p.m. That will put the eastbound system in 2014 will beneit both passen-
it has been consistently late due to in- train through Libby at 2:26 a.m., Whiteish gers and freight customers.
creased freight traic on BNSF Railway, at 4:26 a.m., West Glacier at 5:16 a.m., Es- [email protected]
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
which owns the tracks. In January, the
sex at 5:55 a.m. and Browning at 7:10 a.m.

Packets cost $25.00
Elder Packets (75 and older) $12.00 CALL ABOUT
Machines cost $40.00
Elder Machines $20.00
ENERGY
Extra Packets $2.00
Early Bird Packets cost $4.00
Games 1,2,3 pay $50.00 Game 4
pays $100.00
TAX CREDITS
Machines pay $125.00
April Paper pays $75.00

1 Special game pays $300.00
$1,000 294 2nd Ave WN
4th
BLACKOUT 1 pays Kalispell
BLACKOUT 2 pays $1,000
$1,000
257-1341
BLACKOUT 3 pays www.airworksmt.com

HWY 2 & 89 WEST | BROWNING, MONTANA 59417 | (406) 338-CASH or 2274 | WWW.GLACIERPEAKSCASINO.COM