Juneau - A January rail conference continues to prove valuable as Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie reports progress in recent talks with the Canadian Prime Minister on a rail connection between Alaska and the rest of the North American rail system.

Senate Transportation Committee co-chairman Sen. John Cowdery (R-Anchorage) sponsored a one-day summit on the rail connection in Juneau on Jan. 15. Fentie attended, along with Gov. Frank Murkowski, Yukon parliament member Larry Bagnell, Yukon First Nations chief Ed Schultz and a number of elected officials from British Columbia.

Fentie said that new Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is interested in the issue and has ordered his officials to move the question of whether or not the Canadian Government will participate in the feasibility study to the top of their priority list.

A year ago, the Canadian transport ministry was mildly supportive of the feasibility study, but cabinet counterparts were cool to the idea, Fentie explained in an article Monday in the Whitehorse Star. "With Mr. Martin's good offices … we should see some positive change. The Prime Minister was not in any way taken aback by the (cost of the Canadian share of feasibility study)" estimated at between $8 million and $9 million Canadian dollars.

The feasibility study was part of then U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski's 2000 Rails to Resources legislation. Murkowski's legislation authorized a bilateral commission and $6 million in funds. However, the Canadian federal government never appointed commission members or matched the funds.

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