PRESS RELEASE

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Rail Advocate Frank Murkowski to ‘Explore’ Alaska/Canada/(Lower 48) Link

May 15, 2017 (EIRNS)—Alaska now has an official state-level effort to explore the options for linking its rail network with that of Canada, a blog posting from April 3 reveals. Rail advocate Frank Murkowski has been officially hired as "special envoy" to Governor Bill Walker’s office, to "research on the state’s behalf the viability of this potential project, and report his findings back to Governor Walker and his team."

Murkowski, who spent 20 years (1981-2002) as U.S. Senator before becoming governor of the state (2002-2006), and whose daughter is now a U.S. Senator, has "been looking on this conceptually for 25 to 30 years," he said.

"It’s something that comes up continually. It’s an opportunity to compile the existing information, look at the potential for new traffic, and see what it looks like."

A main motivation is hauling out the mineral wealth of the north, but the potential corridor link up to the Lower 48 and southward is obvious.

A link at the end of the article goes to a 2016 post on expansion of the "Silk Road," reporting on China and Russia’s cooperation in opening the Arctic to rail transport. Several American companies are also making their own separate investigations.