Alaska Has Been Left Behind
Imagine paying twice sometimes three times what the rest of the country pays for the most basic essentials. A gallon of milk for $10. A loaf of bread for $8. Heating fuel that costs a family their entire paycheck. This is not some distant foreign hardship. This is daily life for hundreds of thousands of American citizens living in Alaska.
The reason is simple and fixable. Alaska is cut off. No rail. No affordable freight corridor. One road a single two lane highway running through another country. And a state ferry system that is slow, weather dependent and useless for mass evacuation. Everything that arrives in Alaska. Food, medicine, building supplies, clothing and fuel. Must be flown or shipped across thousands of miles of ocean. Every mile of that journey is paid for by Alaskan families at the checkout counter.
The people of Alaska are tough. They are resourceful. They are proud. But they have been failed by their federal government and by a country that has simply looked away. The struggles of the people of Alaska have been ignored for far too long. That ends now.
No family in America should have to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table simply because of where they live.
We Do Not Need to Build a Railroad. We Need to Close a Gap.
For a century people have talked about connecting Alaska to the rest of America by rail. Every time the idea sounded too big. Here is what almost everyone missed. Most of that railroad is already built.
Track already runs from Seattle north through Bellingham and Vancouver. Up through Prince George and the Peace River country. To the railhead at Fort Nelson, British Columbia. On the other end. The Alaska Railroad already runs from Fairbanks through Denali down to the port at Anchorage. Two rail networks reaching toward each other. Some of the line through British Columbia is lightly used or dormant. And would need to be reactivated and upgraded but the route exists.
The gap between them is about 1,200 miles. From Fort Nelson BC to Fairbanks Alaska. Following the Alaska Highway corridor through the Yukon. That is the new construction. Everything south of Fort Nelson and everything from Fairbanks to tidewater at Anchorage. Already exists in some form. We are not cutting a new path through the wilderness. We are restoring and finishing one. A job this country started more than eighty years ago. When it built the Alaska Highway in under a year. I call it the Bellingham to Anchorage Railway or B2A.
This is not a fantasy. A presidential permit for a United States to Canada rail crossing on this corridor was granted in 2020. To the earlier Alaska to Alberta project. The engineering case has been studied. What B2A does is anchor that work to a starting point that already has rail and a market. The existing Amtrak Cascades terminal at Bellingham Washington. And close the gap north from there. While the Canadian and Alaskan segments are permitted and engineered in parallel.
Rail freight is three to four times cheaper per mile than trucking. The moment this line opens. The cost of groceries, building supplies, fuel and consumer goods in Alaska drops dramatically. A family currently overpaying thousands of dollars a year on basic necessities gets that money back. That is a real, immediate, tangible benefit. Not a promise, but a mathematical certainty.
Washington Doesn't Just Have Tech. We Feed the World.
Washington State's identity in the national conversation is often reduced to Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing. But Washington is one of the great agricultural states of America. Our apples are known worldwide. Our wheat feeds millions. Our potatoes, dairy, seafood, hops and wine are among the finest produced anywhere on this continent.
Right now shipping Washington agricultural products to Alaska is expensive, slow and complicated. Which means Alaskans pay more and Washington farmers earn less. A direct rail connection changes that equation entirely. Suddenly a farmer in the Skagit Valley has a direct, affordable freight line to Anchorage. Washington food on Alaskan tables. Washington jobs sustained by Alaskan demand.
And as Alaska's cost of living drops. Alaskans' spending power rises. With more money freed from overpriced essentials. Alaskan families spend more on Washington goods, Washington products, Washington services. The economic benefit flows both directions and it flows for generations.
Bellingham itself would be transformed. Currently a quiet ferry town. It would become the southern gateway of a continental freight corridor. A logistics hub generating thousands of permanent local jobs in transportation, warehousing and trade.
Washington's farmers deserve a direct line to market. B2A gives them one at a fraction of today's cost.
Alaska Is America's Strategic Front Door. We Have Left It Unconnected.
Alaska is not just the 49th state. It is America's closest point to Russia. Its gateway to the Arctic. Home to some of the most strategically vital military installations in the world. Including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base. The U.S. military maintains a massive presence in Alaska precisely because of its geographic importance. Yet there is no rail connection linking Alaska to the continental United States. In a national emergency that is not a gap. It is a vulnerability.
The Arctic is no longer a frozen afterthought. Russia and China are both investing heavily in Arctic military and commercial capabilities. America's ability to rapidly move troops, equipment, vehicles, ammunition and supplies into Alaska. Overland without depending on air transport or ocean shipping lanes that can be disrupted. Is a genuine defense priority. A rail corridor from the continental United States to Alaska provides that capability. Nothing else does.
Alaska's ports also sit closer to East Asia than any port in the lower 48 states. In a conflict scenario. The ability to rapidly supply and reinforce Alaska from the south by rail. Rather than solely by air or sea. Changes the strategic picture entirely. B2A is not just an economic investment. It is a national security asset.
This is also why the project has bipartisan appeal. Republican senators from Alaska have long championed a rail link. The Trump administration granted a presidential permit for a corridor crossing in 2020. Building this railway is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. It is an American idea. One the Pentagon should be supporting alongside the Department of Transportation.
You cannot be serious about defending Alaska .While leaving it with no overland connection to the rest of the country.
When Disaster Strikes Alaska There Is No Way Out by Land. That Has to Change.
In July 2025 a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska near Sand Point. Communities along 700 miles of coastline including Kodiak, Homer, Seward and Unalaska. Were ordered to evacuate to higher ground as tsunami warnings blared across the region. The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated its own personnel from the base at Kodiak. Families scrambled. And like every other Alaska emergency. The options for getting people out or getting supplies in were almost entirely limited to aircraft and ships.
That same year wildfires burned 1.68 million acres across Alaska. Roughly double the ten year average. And the one road north keeps failing. In May 2024 wildfires closed the Alaska Highway and forced the evacuation of Fort Nelson, British Columbia. In June 2025 the highway was closed in two places at once as fires burned north and south of Fort Nelson. Two consecutive summers. The same chokepoint. When that road is cut there is no backup. There is no rail line. There is no alternative overland route. The ferry cannot reach the interior and cannot move a city's worth of people. There is nothing.
Alaska sits on the most seismically active region in North America. It experiences more earthquakes than any other state. Tsunami risk along its coastline is the highest in the United States. Wildfires are growing in frequency and scale every year. The state is not just economically isolated. In a major disaster it is logistically stranded.
B2A changes that. A rail line operating year round regardless of weather. Provides a reliable emergency supply corridor. That planes and ships simply cannot match at scale. It means emergency food, medicine, fuel and equipment. Ca move overland in volume when air capacity is overwhelmed and sea lanes are inaccessible. It means mass evacuation by rail is possible. In ways it never has been before. Every dollar spent building this railway is also a dollar spent making Alaska safer for the people who live there.
Energy Security for a Volatile World
Time and again Americans pay more at the pump. Because of conflict on the other side of the world. When fighting flares around the Strait of Hormuz. The chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil. Prices spike here at home. No matter how much we produce. We saw it with the recent crisis involving Iran.
We should not be this exposed. North America has the energy. What it lacks is the infrastructure to move it securely. A branch line from the Alberta oil sands at Fort McMurray. Tied into this corridor. Gives our continent another secure overland route for Canadian crude. A stable friendly neighbor . Instead of a tanker lane someone else can close. The more of our supply that moves on secure North American rail. The less every American family is held hostage to the next overseas shock.
This Is Not Just About Washington and Alaska. This Is About America's Future.
Alaska's ports sit closer to the major economies of East Asia. Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. Than any port in the lower 48 states or British Columbia. That geography is an extraordinary strategic advantage that America has never fully leveraged. A functioning rail corridor from the continental United States through Alaska to deep water Pacific ports changes that.
Goods flowing between North America and Asia could cut two to four days off their shipping time. The Alberta oil sands. Among the largest energy reserves in the world and currently landlocked. Gain a viable route to Pacific export terminals. American grain, manufactured goods and agricultural products. Gain a faster and cheaper path to the world's fastest growing consumer markets.
This is not a regional project. This is a national trade artery. And it is one that generates revenue from the first day it opens. From oil freight, consumer goods, agricultural shipments and passenger service. Rather than depending indefinitely on government subsidy.
Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Everything. We Need to Build What AI Cannot Replace.
Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the economy of Washington State right now. Many of the technology jobs that defined our region for a generation are being automated. The pace of those losses will accelerate not slow. That is not a reason for despair. But it is a reason to plan. A reason to build.
Infrastructure cannot be offshored. Steel cannot be laid by a software algorithm. A railway through the wilderness of British Columbia and the Yukon. Requires engineers, welders, surveyors, heavy equipment operators, logistics managers and communications workers. Thousands of support roles that will exist for decades. Construction jobs. Maintenance jobs. Operations jobs. Jobs in communities along the route that have never had them.
This is vital for the future of your children and your children's children. A better future does not just happen on its own. You have to build it. You have to lay down the foundation for it. Literally in this case, tie by tie, rail by rail, mile by mile through some of the most spectacular wilderness on Earth.
The technology sector will continue to face job losses in the years ahead because of AI. The families whose jobs are displaced in the transition deserve something real to build toward. B2A is that something.
One of the Greatest Train Journeys on Earth. Right in Our Backyard.
Seattle is already one of America's great cruise cities. In 2025 alone. 1.9 million passengers departed from the Port of Seattle for Alaska. Generating an estimated $1.2 billion in regional economic benefit. The appetite for Alaska travel is real. Growing and documented. But cruise ships are not for everyone.
Many travelers find cruise ships confining, overwhelming or simply not their style. Others have medical conditions that make ocean travel difficult. Families with young children, older travelers and people who simply prefer solid ground. Have always been underserved by Alaska tourism. B2A changes that entirely.
There is also a practical concern the cruise industry cannot control. Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships have surged in recent years. The CDC reported 16 separate gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships in 2024. The worst year in over a decade. In 2025 that number was matched by February alone. When an outbreak hits. Ships are quarantined and deep cleaned. Passengers lose their trips. Seattle businesses lose the foot traffic. The hospitality industry loses the revenue. A world class rail alternative insulates Washington's tourism economy from that vulnerability. And gives travelers a choice they have never had before.
Imagine boarding a train in Bellingham Washington and stepping off two days later in Anchorage Alaska. Having watched the wilderness of two nations unfold outside your window the entire way.
The world's great scenic rail journeys. Switzerland's Glacier Express, Norway's Flam Railway, New Zealand's TranzAlpine, Canada's Rocky Mountaineer. Are bucket list destinations for travelers from across the globe. People plan years in advance. They pay premium prices. They come back and tell everyone they know. B2A would not just compete with those routes. It would surpass most of them.
No other train route on Earth passes through the Cascades. The Coast Mountains of British Columbia. The boreal forests of northern Canada. The tundra plains of the Yukon. The St. Elias Mountains and the spectacular wilderness of interior Alaska. In a single continuous journey. This would not simply be one of America's great train rides. It would be one of the great train rides in the world.
New Hotels and New Economic Life Along the Route
Every great scenic rail route generates an ecosystem of hospitality along its path. B2A would do the same. Creating demand for new hotels and lodges. Restaurants and tour operations at every stop.
The Rocky Mountaineer. Canada's famous scenic rail experience through the Canadian Rockies. Generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and is consistently ranked among the world's premier travel experiences. It runs a fraction of the distance B2A would cover. The Bellingham to Anchorage corridor would be in a category of its own. People would fly from Tokyo, London, Sydney and Paris just to board this train. That is not speculation. That is what great rail routes do.
$205 Billion for Passenger Trains or a Railway That Actually Gets Built?
Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington recently co-introduced the American High-Speed Rail Act of 2026 alongside Representative Seth Moulton. A proposal to spend $205 billion over five years on a national high speed passenger rail network. I respect the ambition. I believe in rail. But I believe in rail that gets built.
Consider what we already know. California has spent over $15 billion on high speed rail over 16 years. Not one mile of high speed track has been completed. The Trump administration recently recovered $4 billion in unspent federal funds from that project. Funds Congress could redirect to something that will actually work.
I am not opposed to high speed rail where it makes sense. In dense corridors with proven ridership. But spending $205 billion on a system that has never succeeded in America. While families in rural Alaska pay $10 for a gallon of milk. Is the wrong priority for Washington State and the wrong priority for this country.
What It Costs and Why It Has to Be Public
Closing the Fort Nelson to Fairbanks gap. Reactivating and upgrading the existing line through British Columbia. Is a planning level investment of roughly 15 to 20 billion dollars. Adding the Fort McMurray energy branch brings the total into the range of 25 to 30 billion. Those numbers are smaller than you would expect. Precisely because most of the corridor already exists. And they are still a fraction of the $205 billion DelBene would spend on a system that has never been built. That $4 billion recovered from California is the seed. Let's plant it in the right ground.
A private company tried to build a version of this a few years ago and went bankrupt before it laid any track. That is the lesson. A project this strategic national security, energy security, and a permanent link to our largest state. Is exactly the kind of thing the federal government exists to start. Not a giveaway. A nation building investment. The way we built the transcontinental railroad and the interstate highways.
Why Jones Act Repeal Is Not a Substitute for B2A
One question always comes up in conversations about a railway to Alaska. What about repealing the Jones Act? The Jones Act debate is real and legitimate. Repealing or reforming it would provide some relief. But here is why it is not a substitute for B2A. And why we need both conversations not one instead of the other.
The Jones Act Has Been Debated for Over 100 Years and Still Has Not Changed
Despite multiple resolutions from the Alaska State Legislature urging reconsideration. No cargo shipping exemption has ever been granted. Representatives have made repeated attempts to repeal or waive the Jones Act. But these proposals rarely progress. Waiting for Jones Act repeal as Alaska's economic salvation means waiting for something that has resisted change for a century. B2A does not wait for political permission. It builds a solution.
Ships Still Cannot Reach Interior Alaska
Even if the Jones Act were fully repealed tomorrow. Ships can only reach coastal communities. They cannot deliver passengers or freight to Fairbanks, the Mat-Su Valley, Denali or the hundreds of interior communities that are the backbone of Alaska's population and economy. Rail penetrates the interior. Ships do not.
Weather and Seasonality
Alaska's coastal waters are not year round reliable for shipping. Ice, storms and seasonal closures interrupt maritime supply chains regularly. A rail line operates 365 days a year regardless of sea conditions. Providing the supply chain resilience that ships simply cannot guarantee.
Rail Is Still Cheaper and Faster Than Ships
Jones Act compliant transport costs up to three times as much as transport by foreign vessels over similar distances. Repeal would bring those costs down. But rail freight is still fundamentally cheaper and faster for overland destinations. A container of Washington apples moving by rail to Anchorage arrives in days. By ship it takes weeks and still requires trucking from the port.
Jobs Stay in America
Outright repeal of the Jones Act would displace American maritime workers as foreign crews replace them. B2A creates tens of thousands of permanent American jobs in construction, operations and logistics. Jobs that can never be outsourced.
Jones Act reform may be worth pursuing on its own merits. But it is a partial fix for a coastal problem. B2A is a complete solution for all of Alaska coast and interior alike. It lowers freight costs more than Jones Act repeal ever could. It moves passengers as well as goods. It operates year round in all weather. It creates American jobs. It opens a trade corridor to Asia that no ship route can match. If you had to choose one transformative investment for Alaska's future. The choice is clear.
Finish the Line
We have the ports. We have the rail on both ends. We have the energy. What we are missing is about 1,200 miles of track and the will to lay it. The rail, jobs, lower prices, trade corridor to Asia, emergency route, national security. None of it happens without the will to build it. Let us finish the line.
Supporting Reading
The high cost of goods and Alaska's supply chain vulnerability.
The messy reality of feeding Alaska -- Alaska BeaconA federal study found Anchorage food prices average 36% higher than the Lower 48 and a 2023 FEMA report called Alaska's food supply chain "unique and vulnerable to disruption." Most of the state's goods cross the Gulf of Alaska on a handful of container ships.
Pandemic-fueled shortages underscore need for Alaska food security -- Anchorage Daily NewsAlaska sits at the end of a long thin supply line. With nearly everything consumed in the state brought north on just three or four ships.
Washington agricultural exports and Pacific trade.
Agricultural Export Statistics -- Washington State Department of AgricultureWashington grown food and agriculture exports totaled $7.8 billion in 2025. With up to 90% of the state's wheat crop exported each year. Counting pass through goods from other states. Nearly $17 billion in agricultural exports move through Washington's ports annually.
U.S. wheat farmers hoping longtime partners stick with them -- OPBWashington is the nation's top wheat exporting state. About 90% of its dryland wheat is trucked or barged to West Coast ports bound for Pacific Rim markets. A trade flow a northern rail corridor could expand and diversify.
Alaska's strategic and national security importance.
Alaska, not Greenland, should worry the United States in the Arctic -- The Arctic InstituteAnalysis of why Alaska's infrastructure gaps and its position facing growing Russian and Chinese activity in the Pacific Arctic make it a critical, under resourced front for U.S. security.
Where is the threat from Russia and China in the Arctic? -- NPRA look at the rising strategic stakes in the Arctic and why infrastructure and presence in the region matter for national defense.
Lessons from the original Alaska-Alberta (A2A) Railway. The following describe the earlier, privately financed A2A effort -- the project B2A is designed to improve upon as a government-initiated alternative.
Is A2A Staying on Track? -- Alaska Business MagazineA look at the vision behind the original A2A project and how a rail link could diversify Alaska's economy and position the state as a Pacific transportation hub.
Alaska-Alberta (A2A) Rail Corridor -- Railway TechnologyThe economic case for a North to South rail corridor. Projected 28,000 jobs. A $60 billion boost to regional GDP by 2040. And a two to four day cut in shipping times between North America and Asia.
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