Just FYI, Canada would need to build a lot of railway to link this up, at the moment, there is no such thing along the entire Alaska Highway route, just one train that runs from Haines Junction in Yukon down to Skagway, Alaska.
So I’m not sure if the 13 billion dollars covers any of that. Also the tracks from Edmonton to let’s say Dawson Creek BC may not be suitable for high speed passenger trains either, just freight moving fairly slowly.
Perhaps luxury coach to connect from railheads? The majority of the Alaska Highway is now paved, could be about a 36-hour non-stop journey from the Alaska-Yukon border to the railhead in Dawson Creek. Add on 6-8 hours in Alberta and Fairbanks to the border (where I’m gathering they need to build track) and you’ve got a two day trip. The ferry connections at present time are about that sort of time frame with the extra time required for driving to and from ferry terminals.
I can’t see this being viable but never say never.
Now that I re-read the article, they are talking about linking Alaska to Fort McMurray, that’s the oil sands production city, so I gather this is an oil shipment freight line, not a passenger line. Would imagine it would run to Valdez which is already an oil exporting port. Same comments about long stretches in Canada needing track.
This is also rather a dubious project because all it’s going to take to make it irrelevant is a change of government in British Columbia, reversing the current policy, and the oil will be shipped on existing rail or pipelines to BC ports. An election is scheduled for later this year in BC. Our federal election won’t impact on this as both major parties support oil exports through BC, the holdup is at the provincial level.