Post here, it's easier. Sister was involved with some consulting on that with the county. Says farmers were eager to use it if it were reopened, but, as is normal, unwilling to put any of their own money into the deal. She said the BNSF was o.k. with MRL deal, thought it would give them a half a--ed way out of all the complaints about its Montana monopoly, yet they could still collect a small wheel charge for the trackage rights use (and still keep UP out of the picture).
She understood that BNSF was looking for an excuse to re-do it's contract with MRL for the bridge traffic requirement in the MRL contract that sets a minimum number of cars over MRL annually, the trackage rights for the P&L thing was to be a good excuse to make some changes. Also, the traffic MRL was after was largely going by truck to Lewiston anyway so BNSF was not going to lose much if anything. Sister talked to someone at MRL a year or so after the deal was killed and they said that they wished they had not believed the IDOT and WSDOT's now famous flyover and had taken the time to walk the hill as some others had done---they thought they could trust the state's and that proved wrong as there were "hidden agendas" involved that MRL found out about after the fact.