The North Coast Hiawatha was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.

Created at the behest of Congress in 1971, the North Coast Hiawatha had an uncertain existence before being discontinued in 1979 amid a wave of Amtrak cuts.

This left the Empire Builder as the lone train through Montana and North Dakota and severed some of these states' most populous cities from the rail network, including Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Billings, and Bismarck.

The NP main line mirrored that of its rival, the Great Northern Railway (GN), with the latter using a more northerly route through Montana and North Dakota.

Amtrak based this decision on several factors, including the overall higher speed of the ex-GN route and better alternate transportation options along the ex-NP.

Mike Mansfield (D–Montana), then Senate Majority Leader, demanded that Amtrak find a way to serve Montana's larger cities that the Empire Builder bypassed by not using the ex-NP line, including Billings, Bozeman, Butte, and Missoula.

[4] The NP route, which included the Yellowstone River, Homestake Pass and Bitterroot Mountains, was praised for its scenery,[5] and Amtrak considered it one of its six most beautiful.

[14] The joint operation with the Empire Builder ended on June 11, 1973, when Amtrak extended the North Coast Hiawatha to Seattle using the GN's route via Stevens Pass and the Cascade Tunnel, which included stops at the northern Washington cities of Wenatchee and Everett.

[8][20] In early 1976, the North Coast Hiawatha was threatened with discontinuance, along with the Pacific International and the three daily Portland–Seattle trains, after the Ford Administration proposed budget cuts.

Several members of Congress protested the proposed cuts, including Representative Max Baucus (D–Montana), and Senators Warren Magnuson (D–Washington) and Bob Packwood (R–Oregon).

[21][22][23] In October 1976, Amtrak announced that the North Coast Hiawatha would be the second train (after the Empire Builder) to receive the new bi-level Superliner coaches, then on order from Pullman Standard.

[31] In July an attempt by Representative (and future Vice President) Al Gore (D–Tennessee) to impose a one-year moratorium on the proposed system-wide cuts failed 214–197.

[36] In the end the Senate approved a smaller cutback, citing a 24% spike in Amtrak ridership after an oil shock during the summer, but the North Coast Hiawatha remained on the chopping block.

[37] In late September, the Railway Labor Executives' Association, along with Senator John Melcher (D–Montana) and Representative Pat Williams (D–Montana), sued the U.S. Department of Transportation to prevent the discontinuance of the service, then scheduled for October 1.

[38] A federal judge temporarily restrained Amtrak from ending the service,[39][40] but the last North Coast Hiawathas ran on October 6, 1979, arriving in Chicago on the 7th and Seattle on the 8th.

A plan in 1982–83 proposed North Dakota and Montana paying 45% of costs in the first year and 65% thereafter for a new section of the Empire Builder operating tri-weekly between Fargo and Sandpoint.

[46][47] This approach is modeled on the Gulf Coast Working Group and Southern Rail Commission, which are on track to restore Amtrak service between New Orleans and Mobile in 2022.

[52] As of August 2022[update], the number of member counties participating in the BSPRA has grown to eighteen, covering the great majority of the proposed route.

[66] In May 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration established the Corridor Identification and Development Program as the mechanism to award grants for new train service under the IIJA.