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On August 22, 2017, the Glacier Rail Park Groundbreaking Ceremony kicked off construction of the Rail Park. US Senator Jon Tester, Mayor Mark Johnson, and a variety of Federal and State Administrators and stakeholders spoke on this momentous occasion. |
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Drone footage of the Glacier Rail Park on February 7, 2018.
Drone video footage taken throughout the project can be found on the City YouTube page. |
Click below to view a 3-D overhead view of what the Park looked like on each date.
August 10, 2017 Oct. 10, 2017 Oct. 24, 2017 Nov/ 15, 2017 Check back for updated views (Best viewed in Google Chrome.) Click here to view 2D aerial imagery of all of the drone flights. Click the layers icon to view different dates. |
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MEETING KALISPELL'S NEEDS
First, it establishes an industrial park with streamlined transportation and direct access to national and international markets. Secondly, it relieves traffic congestion and creates a more connected street grid eliminating a series of dead ends currently choking the city. These improvements make for a safer more walkable Core Area while opening up investment opportunities and a linear park along a corridor.
Located on the perimeter of Kalispell’s northeastern city limits, the Glacier Rail Park has immediate access to U.S. Highway 2 and is only 10 minutes from Glacier Park International Airport. Thanks to its location and a design specifically tailored for industrial companies with freight inventory, the park will aid in future growth for manufacturing and other vital industrial sectors. Come see the Glacier Rail Park and find out why BNSF has determined that rail parks are the key to future rail use and a strategic economic development tool. |
Partnership |
The City of Kalispell and Flathead County Economic Development Authority are committed to ensuring development in the Glacier Rail Park is simple and straightforward. The Glacier Rail Park’s development coordinator, Kim Morisaki, personally connects developers with the correct people, identifies necessary permits, and is available to assist if challenges surface. Kalispell wants your business and all entities are on board to ensure development in our town is a pleasant process.
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Infrastructure |
The Glacier Rail Park offers a valuable, established infrastructure for rail-served businesses. Every lot is equipped with on-site rail, wastewater management, municipal water and utilities. In addition, site pads are graded and ready for construction. Rail to the tenant's building can be designed to their specifications and built to suit. Costs for engineering and construction of the rail are included in the lease price. In addition, truck and highway access that meets both the needs of rail tenants and the Montana Department of Transportation is already designed and will be put in place.
This infrastructure combination is not available in any other location in the Flathead; it’s also a rare find in other rail parks. Naturally, these amenities increase the cost of land in the Glacier Rail Park but for rail-served businesses, this prepared property provides an excellent value and easy transition. |
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Availability |
For businesses interested in becoming a tenant of Glacier Rail Park, lots range in size from 5 to 10 acres and are zoned as “heavy industrial.” The Glacier Rail Park lots each come fully served with all utilities, including city water and sewer, stormwater, gas, power, fiber optics and rail. All sites are graded and ready for construction and rail can be built to suit.
Prices and rates include direct rail access designed to suit industrial needs and include the use of necessary infrastructure such as a private access road built to specification for industrial traffic and convenient, signalized access to U.S. Highway 2. There are options for financing packages, property tax abatement, custom incentives, equipment grants, and New Markets Tax Credits. Glacier Rail Park tenants will have the opportunity to take advantage of the rail park’s location along BNSF’s Great Northern Corridor, giving them access to West Coast, Great Lakes and Canadian markets, and beyond. Call our team of economic development professionals for a full package of both costs and incentives customized for your project. |
Team Track & Transloading |
In addition to tenants, businesses that need regular access to the rail line can lease usage through Team Track. These businesses will share the line with other users, coordinating their usage with those businesses and the short line operator. Team Track users provide their own insurance, labor, trucks and equipment for loading and unloading onto the rail cars. Typical team track users include companies that require consistent, but limited access to track a certain number of days each month and are able to provide their own trucks, equipment and employees for loading or unloading product.
Transload services are available for users of the rail that aren’t located in the rail park but still need products delivered to and loaded upon rail cars or taken from rail cars and delivered to their businesses around Northwest Montana. These businesses would contract with the short line operator on an as-needed basis and would typically be a business that only required occasional, sporadic or one-time only use of rail. |
Distance from BNSF |
The rail park is located in BNSF’s Great Northern Corridor, with access to West Coast, Great Lakes and Canadian markets. BNSF and Mission Mountain Railroad, a subsidiary of Watco Railways, have communicated with potential tenants and worked closely on the design of the rail park to ensure that it meets rail needs. BNSF also has property neighboring the rail park that offers 39 additional rail-served, industrial-zoned acres available for development.
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BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY
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The economic benefits of the Glacier Rail Park to Kalispell and the surrounding region are far-reaching, with impacts that will extend into future generations.
Northwest Montana needs improved rail access for freight movement in order to diversify and strengthen the economy. The Glacier Rail Park solves that need by allowing regional businesses to capitalize on a valuable asset: location within the Great Northern Corridor along the BNSF Railway main line that connects to national and international markets, from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest. Current rail-served lots in Kalispell are too small to attract new industrial rail users. Additionally, other potential users avoid locating next to the rail line, which has left 44 acres in Kalispell’s core area blighted and vacant. This project will create a viable and far more suitable location for industry to access rail and take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the Great Northern Corridor. Rail access is a valuable resource that is currently underutilized in the region. The Glacier Rail Park will expand transportation options for freight movement by building the only transload facility in the region. Currently, businesses in the area may pay up to 30 percent more for shipping than competitors in other markets, according to Chris Parson, director of manufacturing advancement for Flathead Valley Community College. The transload facility will help reduce these costs making local businesses more competitive and the region more attractive for prospective employers. |
With more transportation choices and improved access to national and global markets, employers and residents alike will enjoy the impacts across a broad spectrum of the economy.
In addition to the transload facility, which will dramatically reduce shipping costs and improve the economic climate for manufacturing, the site has an innovative track design that allows the transload facility to operate while giving businesses daily rail access. The innovative parcel rail layout also allows multiple businesses’ rail operations to be conducted at the same time, improving efficiency. Neighbors have asked if the Glacier Rail Park will lead to increased train traffic, which is unlikely. The number of trains is anticipated to remain the same with the length of trains increasing. This approach potentially improves productivity, shipping rates, and limits disruptions for those with facilities near the rail. The Glacier Rail Park means many things for the Flathead Valley: Greater efficiency, increased safety, and opportunity for business expansion. It’s a win for the community on every level. 
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