The Alaska-to-Alberta railway project is putting boots on the ground in Alberta, the project’s executive team announced Wednesday.

“The Executive Team of the Alaska-Alberta Railway Corporation (A2A Rail) has commissioned engineering firm HDR to immediately commence with detailed land surveying along the Alberta segment of the railway’s proposed route,” says a press release.

“HDR will work with respected local contractors and subcontractors, including Quantum Spatial, a geospatial analytics pioneer, and Lawson, a certified Indigenous owned and controlled surveying firm.

“Having secured funding for this critical pre-construction activity, A2A Rail and its technical team will now embark on a 3-month planned process of field investigation and topographic modeling.”

The intent of the privately funded proposal is to build a railway to connect Alberta and Canada’s national railway network to deep water ports in Alaska.

The proposed route would run through a corner of the Northwest Territories and across the Yukon to link up with the railway system in Alaska.

A2A founder Sean McCoshen explained in an interview Thursday that moving forward with the route selection in Alberta is a reflection of the confidence A2A has in the project.

While the closure of the Yukon border has prohibited any direct contact lately with Yukon First Nations and communities, they have spoken to them and to the Yukon government, he said.

McCoshen, the CEO and chair of A2A, said there is enthusiasm in the territory about the proposal, and the government has reached out to A2A.

“I think this is something the people of the Yukon collectively want,” said the founder.

He said it’s absolutely critical the project has the support and involvement of communities and First Nations, particularly in the route selection as they are the most familiar with the lands they live in.

The railway will provide jobs, would raise the standard of living for communities and provide the Yukon with a substantial boost to its gross domestic product, he said.

McCoshen said the project will create benefits for generations to come.

The total investment to date by A2A is $110 million, he said.

A2A is hoping to see the railway operational by the middle to latter part of this decade, Wenesday’s press release noted.

“A2A Rail continues to gather momentum,” McCoshen said in the release.

“The start of surveying activities means that we are now officially ‘boots on the ground’ here in Alberta.

“Combining that with our progress on completing our feasibility study, it is safe to say that A2A Rail has advanced well beyond the early idea first investigated by the Van Horne institute, into a mature infrastructure project only months away from breaking ground.”

A2A envisions a railway that will provide an alternative link to the Pacific region for goods being shipped overseas from Canada and Alaska or goods being shipped to Canada and Alaska.

It’s expected the railway would shorten the time it takes to ship or receive goods by two to four days, given Alaska’s geographic location and the existing wait times at busy west coast ports being used now.

The 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) standard gauge railway would tie Alberta to North Pole, Alaska, and the state’s existing railway network.

A2A has already signed an agreement with Alaska Railway to work together to build the section from North Pole to the Yukon-Alaska border.

Alaska’s legislature – the Senate and the House of Representatives – has already voted their support for the project.

The railway would open up a new transportation option to ship natural resources from northern Canada and Alaska to global markets, A2A maintains.

“This is a world-class infrastructure project that will generate more than 18,000 jobs for Canadian workers at a time when they are most needed, provide a new, more efficient route for trans-Pacific shipping and thereby link Alberta to world markets, McCoshen said Wenesday’s release.

“The new rail line will create new economic development opportunities for a wide range of businesses, communities and Indigenous communities in Canada and Alaska. We estimate that A2A Rail could unlock Cdn. $60 billion in additional cumulative GDP through 2040 and lift household incomes by an average of 40 per cent.”

McCoshen said Thursday A2A wants to joint-venture with communities and First Nations along the route, it wants to provide them with equity in the project.

There is great promise and potential in a new railway link to Alaska’s ports, he said.

“It makes a tremendous amount of sense,” McCoshen said. “I have always said to people who will listen, ‘I can’t believe this has not been built.’”

“... The process that has started in Alberta will be started in the Yukon in time,” he said.

McCoshen is a businessman based in Canada and the U.S. who has developed major infrastructure projects around the world.

“I’ve learned one thing,” McCoshen is quoted as saying in the A2A brochure circulated last year.

“Projects happen when they are a win-win for the major stakeholders involved. I believe this is one of those projects.”