Utah and Montana look close enough on a western road map that a $275 train trip might sound like a convenient ride north. The passenger rail map tells a different story. Starting in Salt Lake City and ending in Whitefish can mean traveling west into California, north into Oregon, and then east toward Montana.
The $275 in this headline is unverified, not a confirmed current Amtrak fare. This article evaluates a Salt Lake City–Whitefish rail example using three services and a planned Portland overnight. It does not describe a direct train, an advertised package, or a journey personally taken for this review.
The resulting trip can appeal to someone who wants several days aboard western trains. For a traveler whose main objective is reaching Montana efficiently, however, the distance between the headline’s simple promise and the actual itinerary is substantial…