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Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is on board with U.S. President Barack Obama's $8-billion US plan to expand high-speed rail that includes a possible Pacific Northwest route from Oregon to B.C.
Obama announced the funding Thursday, drawing it out of the massive $787-billion economic stimulus package previously announced.
In addition to high-speed rail, which in the U.S. is identified as travelling in excess of 145 km/h, some of the money will go to improving existing rail lines.
The justification, according to Obama, is that rail will ease the congestion that adds up to $80 billion in lost productivity annually.
Robertson met Friday with the Mayor of Portland, Sam Adams.
"We're going to work together on accelerating getting high-speed rail connecting Portland, Seattle and Vancouver," said Robertson yesterday at Earth Day celebrations in Everett Crowley Park.
"It will be an enormous boon for our economy," said Robertson.
"I'm hopeful we can bring it right into the transit hub at Waterfront Station so you can go downtown to downtown."
There are some problems.
The U.S. cities have the backing of their federal government but that isn't the case in Canada.
"We've got work to do here to get Ottawa and Victoria on board and fully supporting a high-speed rail link to Vancouver," said Robertson.
Vancouver South Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh also likes the idea. He pointed out that federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has been pushing for a high-speed rail link between Windsor and Montreal.
