Alaska, it seems, has a nearly unlimited ability to transform itself from one economic base to another. Since the 1880s, Alaska and its people have continued to reinvent themselves as economic turns and turmoil demand.

First, fish. Then the gold rush. Later, timber and agriculture. Next, a war footing. Tourism expanded. The oil boom. And now?

If my vision can be realized, Alaska can finally find steady, strong economic growth based on the solid footing of rail transportation. Our first step - and it is a step which can be taken in the next few years, I believe - is to extend the Alaska Railroad from Eielson to Delta Junction.

The added 80 miles of rail will immediately open opportunities for agriculture as well as the new Pogo Mine project. Such a rail extension will mean jobs and will make Fort Greeley more attractive to investment and development.

But I don't see Delta Junction as a rail terminal.

My vision is to see the railroad continue to Tok, the Canadian Border and on to the South to link up with the North American rail system in British Columbia.

The first step is to identify a railroad corridor. The next step is to draw private sector investment to purchase the right away, survey and build the railroad. I am convinced that once we identify the right of way, the private sector can get the rest of the job done.

I don't make this claim idly. Over the course of this session I have spoken with a number of people with expertise in the field of expanding and constructing railroads. All agree: there is a wealth of investment capital available. I am certain that if we take the necessary steps, this private investment will come into play.

Alaska can be connected to the Lower 48 by rail before the end of the next decade. I'm convinced of it.

At present, just 900 miles separates the end of the Alaska Railroad at Eielson with the northernmost reach of the British Columbia railroad, at a place called Chipmunk. Nine hundred miles - that's a weekend round-trip drive to Anchorage.

The ultimate goal is to connect North America with Asia and Europe by way of a rail tunnel under the Bering Sea. There is growing international interest in this project, first suggested in the late 1890s. I've learned, for example, that it will cost less to tunnel 55 miles from the Seward Peninsula to Russia than it cost to complete the Channel Tunnel between England and France.

A few weeks ago, I met - via teleconference - with some Yukon government folks as well as officials with the Chambers of Commerce of Alaska and the Yukon. Yukon development minister Trevor Harding told us some money was being set aside to study the business case for railroad development.

We also learned that an existing corridor for a never-constructed gas line might be altered to a rail corridor. The Yukon people seemed very positive.

This summer I will be working hard on the railroad issue. In a few weeks I plan to attend the state Chamber of Commerce board meeting in Talkeetna. It's my goal to get the state chamber on board in a formal manner. Later in the summer I am hoping to meet with some of the "money people" - railroad officials and potential investors. It's my goal to get them together with the commissioners of Transportation, Natural Resources, Environmental Conservation as well as top officials with BLM, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Alaska Railroad.

I believe completing a railroad between Alaska and the lower 48 will have as great an impact on the state as did the opening of the Alaska pipeline.

I think the comparison is very realistic. Before the pipeline, North Slope oil was available for development. Exxon, you might remember, even built an ice-breaking tanker - The Manhattan - for the purpose. But it took a pipeline to make transporting the oil economic. It's the same with rail. We can export agricultural products, coal and other minerals today. We can bring tourists in, busload by busload.

Just as the pipeline made exporting North Slope oil profitable, so will a railroad make exporting interior mineral and agricultural products profitable. There is no reason to believe that Alaskan coal couldn't compete with Wyoming coal, for example. And I am becoming increasingly convinced that tourism alone could make such a rail connection profitable.

Despite the budget battles and other political squabbles, these are exciting times for our district, the Interior and Alaska as a whole. But we must think positively and we must plan for our future. Alaska needs a diversified economy to grow and prosper, and it's my belief that rails can carry us solidly in that direction.