The Hi-Line is a
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
in
Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
running between
Havre and
Whitefish. It serves as a portion of the
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...
Northern Transcon. Originally the mainline of the
Great Northern Railway,
the Hi-Line name has its origins in the railroad line being the northernmost transcontinental railway line in the United States. While the modern BNSF Railroad has only named this portion the Hi-line, the term is colloquially used for other portions of the Northern Transcon. Hi-Line also more generally refers to the area of northern Montana near the
Canada–United States border and
U.S. Highway 2.
The route is served by one passenger train daily in each direction operating between
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and either
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
or
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
:
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
''
Empire Builder
The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...
''.
See also
*
Hi-Line Railroad Bridge, bridge along a different subdivision of the Northern Transcon.
References
External links
Photographs and Information of the Montana Hi-Line Region
Regions of Montana
Rail transportation in the United States
Montana railroads
BNSF Railway lines
{{Montana-transport-stub