Vancouver, British Columbia, risks being isolated from a high-speed rail corridor on the West Coast, along with its business and tourism benefits, as efforts to build U.S. portions of the corridor progress faster than any initiatives on the Canadian side of the border.

Vancouver, B.C., Mayor Gregor Robertson signed a pact June 9 with the mayors of Seattle and Portland to push to secure a high-speed railway service through the Pacific Northwest, but the plan still faces many obstacles  - physically, financially and politically - before it will be realized.

Bruce Agnew, director of the Seattle-based Cascadia Center, which helped organize a June 17 trip to B.C., said the mayors support continuing a policy to waive the $1,500 Canadian border-inspection fee for high-speed trains. They also support more funding from the Canadian federal government to make rail improvements.

While the U.S. government has contributed nearly $600 million in funding for the high-speed corridor linking Portland and Vancouver, B.C., the Canadian government has made $8 million in funding available, Agnew said.

The June 9 pact follows a similar agreement made last year between the province and Washington state. The latest pact was arranged as rail and government officials – including 70 to 80 business and political leaders from Washington state and Oregon – gathered in Vancouver to discuss how to advance high-speed rail between the province and the two states.

Among the Washington state officials on the trip were Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) and Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island). Both chair transportation committees in their respective chambers of the state Legislature.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn did not make the trip, but he signed the agreement with Vancouver’s mayor, along with the mayors of several other cities along the corridor including Portland, Eugene, Bellingham and Mount Vernon.

Attendees at the gathering heard how a number of U.S. states have progressed in their efforts to advance high-speed rail service in their jurisdictions.

The conclusion from Vancouver’s Mayor Robertson at the meeting’s end: “Vancouver should eventually be the northern terminus of a West Coast high-speed rail line. But that means taking action and delivering better service in the near term.”

Robertson told Business in Vancouver newspaper that the first step is to persuade the Canadian federal government to maintain additional funding for border services required to maintain a second Amtrak Cascades train running between Vancouver and Seattle.

The train, which began operating last August, is in a test phase that was supposed to conclude after the 2010 Olympic Games, but was extended until September.

About 35,580 passengers rode the second train between August 2009 and April 2010.

“We get huge leverage and economic advantage from it,” said Robertson, “but we need to see that leadership in Ottawa (the capital of Canada).”

While representatives from the B.C. government attended the meeting no Canadian federal government officials were present. If the second train is maintained, further baby steps will be made toward the goal of high-speed rail in B.C.

For example, Robertson said that a “modest investment” can be made to straighten out Amtrak’s existing track and upgrade bridges along the route to reduce travel times between Seattle and Vancouver to three hours from four.

Given its proximity to communities and the geography on which it lies, the existing Amtrak line could not support high-speed rail. Another line would likely be built running farther east.

But with little cohesive resolve on the Canadian side of the border Charles Kelly of the Cascadia Center, which promotes regional transportation, said B.C. is lagging behind many states.

A basic 790-mile starter line that will be the backbone of a new rail network in California is budgeted to cost upward of $30 billion to build. About half of the funds would come from the U.S. federal government.

The California high-speed rail authority estimates that the starter line would generate up to $3.6 billion (U.S.) in revenue.

Washington landed $590 million (U.S.) last January for high-speed intercity passenger projects through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The money is being used to add two daily round trips between Seattle and Portland and to make improvements that reduce travel times by at least 5 percent. Washington state’s ultimate goal is to link its system with the high speed rail network that’s being developed in California.

The money also is helping to make track and technology improvements on the rail corridor, including building more sidings to allow freight trains to move aside for the faster passenger trains.

The Cascadia Center’s Kelly said B.C. has generated millions in revenue annually from the investments made in Washington state to improve track and boost rail ridership.

Marian Robson, co-chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade’s regional transportation task force, recently joined a high-speed rail subcommittee of the International Mobility and Trade Corridor project.

“I think we all have an interest,” she said, “but it’s very scattered, particularly on the Canadian side.”

Copyright, Business in Vancouver. Puget Sound Business Journal Staff Writer Greg Lamm contributed to this report.