By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Alaska and Yukon Territory officials are coordinating efforts to keep pressure on their respective federal governments to conduct a feasibility study of an Alaska-Canada rail link.

Meanwhile, the state-owned Alaska Railroad Corp. is in the middle of a $14 million environmental and engineering study of a possible 80-mile extension of the railroad from North Pole, near Fairbanks, to Delta Junction. The extension would support military training in the area and missile defense facilities at Fort Greely, near Delta Junction. The 80-mile extension would be paid for by the Department of Defense, if the plan is approved.

From Delta Junction, it's another 270 miles to the Canada border, where Gov. Frank Murkowski hopes there will someday be a link with a 1,000-mile extension Canada's railway system north through the Yukon to the Alaska border.

An Alaska delegation led by Jim Clark, chief of staff of the Murkowski administration, and Mike Barton, commissioner of the state transportation department, were in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, March 22 to meet with their counterparts in the Yukon government on an outline for an economic feasibility study of a rail connection.

Murkowski met with Canadian Minister of Transport Jean Lapierre in Ottawa Feb. 23 and secured an agreement with the federal government of Canada to participate in a feasibility study.

Brian McGregor, a spokesman for Transport Canada, confirmed that Canada's government has made a preliminary agreement to participate in a feasibility study. The details of the study, and its funding still need to be worked out, McGregor said.

The rail link would require about $3 billion in new investment for about 1,270 miles of new track in Canada and Alaska.

Alaska Railroad president Patrick Gamble said Canadian government officials are taking an Alaska-Canada rail link more seriously now that construction of a $20 billion natural gas pipeline seems possible.

Gamble briefed the Resource Development Council in Anchorage March 17 on railroad issues, including the possibility of an extension.

Gamble had accompanied Murkowski on his February trip to Ottawa.

The possible gas pipeline has caused the project to be looked at differently within Canada, he said. "It takes the politics out of it and causes it to be looked at as a business case. You can begin to make a case for it, and there's something in it for both sides," if rail transportation can help reduce the immense capital expenditure needed to fund pipeline construction, Gamble said.

The Department of Defense has funded environmental and preliminary engineering work for a possible 80-mile extension to Fort Greely, but final approval for the extension to Greely has not been given, Gamble said.

In the recent Whitehorse meetings, Clark and Barton were accompanied by Bruce Carr, the railroad's manager for strategic development, former state Rep. Jeannette James, who is now working with the Murkowski administration on the rail project, and University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Paul Metz, who has done studies of the economic benefits of a rail link with Canada.

The Alaska group met with several officials in the Yukon administration of Premier Dennis Fentie, including Fentie's chief of staff Rick Nielson and Eugene Lysl, deputy minister of economic development, among others.

Murkowski has been working on the concept of an Alaska-Canada railroad connection for years. As a U.S. Senator, Murkowski secured passage of the federal Rails to Resources Act of 2000, which authorized U.S. participation in a joint study group on the rail extension. The United States also provided $6 million in funding. Canada's government did not follow through on staffing its side, however.

Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said Canada's government is still working on a source of funds for their participation in the feasibility study. "As the feasibility study is still in outline form, a cost estimate isn't yet available," she said.

Since becoming governor, Murkowski has continued to push the idea. "The prospects of connecting the Alaska Railroad to the Canadian system are really exciting, because then we would have alternative transportation connection to the continental U.S.," the governor said in a recent briefing.

"It's been a dream of Alaskans for a long time, it's a dream of mine, (and) I want to make it a reality."

The idea has a cadre of long-time Alaska supporters, including James, who represented North Pole in the state House, as well as UAF's Metz.

Metz has documented benefits that improved transportation access would bring to Alaska, finding that it could be a boon for minerals development in eastern Interior Alaska.

The region is rich in mine prospects. Teck Cominco Inc. and Sumitomo Heavy Metals Corp. are now building the $290 million Pogo gold mine near Delta Junction, and minerals companies are exploring other prospects in the region.

Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.