The final train is expected to roll down the railroad tracks through downtown Kalispell by the start of the new year.
“It’s my understanding that by January 1 there will be no more use of the rail,” Kalispell Planning Director Jarod Nygren said.
It’s one of the last major milestones in a decade-long process to remove the tracks from downtown, relocate the rail users to the new Glacier Rail Park and replace the tracks with an approximately 2-mile long multi-use trail.
The tracks are expected to be out and the trail will be in place in the spring or summer of 2021. The ongoing use of rail service was the final obstacle to the long-awaited removal of the tracks.
Rail tenant CHS moved into Glacier Rail Park east of town in the fall, and now its neighbor, Northwest Drywall, is also wrapping up its downtown operations and relocating to the new industrial park.
Read the full story at the Daily Inter Lake here.