EDMONTON - Alberta isn’t yet ready for a high-speed rail link between its two major cities, but it’s time to start planning for it, says an all-party legislature committee.

The standing committee on Alberta’s economic future, studying the feasibility of high-speed rail between Calgary and Edmonton, is recommending the provincial government not invest in it at this time, but begin planning and acquiring a transportation corridor for it.

Committee members met Friday to approve four recommendations stemming from its determination the province doesn’t have sufficient population to support a high-speed railway, but it added a fifth recommendation to open the door for private enterprise to proceed with the project, if it can raise the capital.

The report, which officially goes to the government next week, recommends the Tories develop a long-term transportation infrastructure strategy that includes the expansion of light rail systems and the development of regional transportation systems, but the committee backed away from making that the top transportation priority.

However, it urged the government to identify a route for a transportation utility corridor between Edmonton and Calgary that would accommodate a potential high-speed railway and to begin acquiring the land for it following public consultation with affected landowners and First Nations.

Liberal Kent Hehr was successful in adding the fifth recommendation urging government to investigate the development of a regulatory model that would enable private enterprise to build and operate a high-speed rail link, but NDP MLA David Eggen expressed doubts the last recommendation was really necessary.

“It just seems so far-fetched,” he said in an interview following the meeting. “I just had reservations about it because it’s so unlikely you would ever have a completely private proposal to build it.”

However, he supported the report and it was approved unanimously.

The proponents of a private company called Alberta High-Speed Rail told the committee in February they could proceed with the project without any government assistance.

The company’s chairman, Jack Crawford, said that with the low interest rates available, private investors could put up an estimated $4 billion to buy the trains and construct the 300-kilometre line.

Committee chair Moe Amery was skeptical when asked about it in aninterview Thursday.

“This is no small venture. This is billions of dollars.”

Amery, a Calgary PC MLA, said it has been suggested the populations of Edmonton and Calgary would have to double to generate the 10 million passengers a year required to make high-speed rail economically viable.

But he said it is important to prepare for the future.

“We have two very fast-growing cities and our population is increasing by 100,000 every year, so it is not a bad thing to have the government and the people start thinking about something like that.”

Eggen said the committee didn’t really learn anything new that previous investigations into the concept have not found, but it was a good exercise to remind government to plan deeper into the future.

“We also perhaps clarified in the public’s mind what the priorities are for Edmonton and Calgary for public transport and that high-speed rail cannot come before the development of light rail transit and regional commuter systems,” he said.

Another committee member, Wildrose MLA Rod Fox, said he was surprised the government doesn’t have a long-term transportation infrastructure strategy.

“Transportation and utility corridors are probably something we should have been looking at 20 years ago,” he said.

“It goes back to the power line incident prior to the last election. The government wanted to build these new power lines between Edmonton and Calgary and it had to fight with landowners over it because it didn’t have the foresight to plan corridors for these sorts of projects.”

The committee heard about two dozen presentations from experts and stakeholders and held three public meetings in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton over the winter. It also received 75 written submissions.

The committee’s next assignment is to review legislation overhauling civil service pension plans.

Eggen said planning will begin next week to schedule June public hearings on the issue around Alberta.

dhenton@calgaryherald.com