![]() The drivers are more steering wheel holders than actual truck drivers. There 401k program is just a savings account you cant get from a local bank. Break every strap on a load? just get some more. Its truly seems like the more you mess up at Venture the more they want to keep you. its always maybe one day they will have time. Half the trucks have no air conditioning and the Supervisors have to run loads so there is noone to take the Truck to Ryder for repair. To the point where asking them a question is worthless and a waste of your time. While the stunning scenery of Montana will still inspire enthusiasts to venture to Big Sky Country, it won’t be the same without Montana Rail Link.Venture Express, Atleast the opelika office management are complete liars. Friendly employees were another longtime trademark of MRL. MRL’s unique image, interesting motive power and classic infrastructure (including semaphore signals into the 2000s) were all great reasons to venture to Montana, especially in an era of growing conformity within railroading. ![]() “Our combined forces will have a unique opportunity to build upon the best-in-class service our customers throughout the Montana region have come to expect.”įor railfans, however, the loss of MRL was something to lament rather than celebrate. “We’re excited about the years ahead working together as one team,” said Luke Johnson, general manager of BNSF’s Montana Division. For Washington, a self-made billionaire on the Forbes 500 list, the lease was a great deal because BN and BNSF always provided MRL with traffic. In many ways, the reacquisition of MRL had corrected a mistake made years earlier by BN as traffic boomed in the 1990s, some say BN officials regretted the decision to lease the route to Washington. Photo by Justin Franz.īNSF officials said they were optimistic about the future for the former NP across southern Montana. Ī Montana Rail Link engineer is seen on a helper set climbing Mullan Pass in July 2022. Even before BNSF took over, MRL was scrapping some older SD45s and GP9s that had not been in service for a number of years. It also seems unlikely that some of MRL’s more unique locomotives - including a lone SD45, SDP40 and a handful of GP9s - will last long on BNSF. Because none of them have Positive Train Control installed, it is unlikely that they will be spread to other parts of the BNSF system, unless they are trailing. Just how long MRL’s blue locomotives will last in service is unclear. At midnight, MRL officially became the “MRL Subdivision” of BNSF’s Montana Division. The Day Gas Local between Missoula and Thompson Falls and the Missoula to Laurel freight would become some of the last trains to operate under the MRL flag. so that all trains would be stopped before midnight and crews would be marked off. Road trains were not called after 10 a.m. On Sunday, December 31, MRL began to wind down operations. Montana Rail Link operated the former Northern Pacific main line and a number of branches, including the line to Polson, as seen in this photo from the early 1990s. No trespassing signs declaring it BNSF property also began to appear across the railroad. In the months before the transition, BNSF locomotives became more common than they already were on MRL rails (most road trains are led by BNSF locomotives already), making appearances in helper service or even on MRL’s own road jobs, like the Missoula to Laurel wayfreight. Branches that still see regular service, including those to Whitehall and Harrison, have been leased to BNSF. ![]() While BNSF still owned the main line, the branch lines MRL operated on are still owned by Washington Corp. BNSF and MRL set a transition date of January 1, 2024. On March 8, 2023, the STB gave its approval for the takeover. As part of the deal, all MRL employees were offered jobs. Because MRL operated on trackage that it leased from BNSF, the regional railroad argued that a detailed review of the transaction was unnecessary and that neither customers nor employees would be negatively impacted. Surface Transportation Board to receive a waiver from the normal transaction review process. ![]() In 1987, BNSF predecessor Burlington Northern had made a deal to lease the NP main line to industrialist Dennis Washington for 60 years. At that moment, BNSF Railway resumed control of more than 900 miles of former Northern Pacific track between Huntley, Mont., and Sandpoint, Idaho.Īlmost two years ago, BNSF and MRL’s owner, Washington Companies, announced that an agreement had been made to end MRL’s lease of the former NP main line 25 years earlier than expected. ![]() Montana Rail Link - the friendly regional railroad that built a dedicated following of railroad enthusiasts during its 36-year run - became a fallen flag at midnight on January 1, 2024. BNSF Railway Takes Control of Montana Rail Link ![]()
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