With more than 6,000 kilometres of high-speed rail now in service, China is the world leader at moving people and goods faster than 200 kilometres an hour. Japan speeds to second with nearly 2,500 kms of track, and France whizzes to third with a network of 1,700 kms.

Worldwide, more than a dozen other countries now have high-speed rail systems. Canada, one of the largest countries on the planet, has exactly zero kilometres of high- speed rail in service, and precisely zero kilometres under construction.

Being last hasn’t always been the Canadian way. One hundred and 25 years ago, foresight built the transcontinental railroad, and brought British North America to nationhood. Today, with traffic congestion worsening, and climate change concerns mounting, ingenuity and vision have gone off the rails, supplanted by dallying and dithering. A long-awaited report, shelved for a year by the Alberta Conservative government, concludes that high-speed rail between Edmonton and Calgary would be well used, create thousands of jobs and generate perhaps $33 billion in economic benefits.

The study predicts that high-speed trains would attract as many as six million riders a year by 2021.The report will be reviewed by a legislative committee in September, but already cabinet ministers and some other elected representatives have been quick to call it “grandiose” and “a low priority.”

Fixing our transportation system is only a low priority because the representatives we elect choose to make it so.

The market assessment study, commissioned by the province, says that high speed rail would cut the travel time between the two cities to as quick as an hour. That’s faster than by jet, when travel times to and from airports are included.

The study looked at the ridership, revenues and demand for high-speed rail service, and compared the costs and advantages of four different technologies. It found that trains could travel between 125 km/h and 300 km/h, depending on their type, and pegs the cost of the system at between $3 billion and $20 billion.

Funding could come from private operators, with government providing the land. That’s a lot of money, to be sure, but so was the transcontinental railway in its day. It has paid for itself thousands of times over.

Five years ago, a similar report reached many of the same conclusions. Government members responded the same way, with plenty of talk but no substantive action.

The demand is obviously there, as the Edmonton-Calgary corridor is one of the busiest in the country, In 2006, 10 million people travelled between the two cities. Fully 91 per cent of them went by car or truck, with six per cent going by air and three per cent on the bus.

Officially, Alberta Transportation Minister Luke Ouellette says the report contains useful information and data that will assist the province as it considers various options. “We have not made a decision on a high-speed rail project, however, this report is a good first step. We will continue to look at all options in order to support Albertans and the province’s economic future.”

What we need is a Sir John A. Macdonald to step up, show leadership, and get the job done. Building wider highways, adding more vehicles, spewing more emissions and funnelling more congestion into and through the cities isn’t a plan for the 21st century. As more people move into Alberta, traffic volumes are only going to increase.

A federal Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities is gathering information for its national study on High-Speed Rail in Canada. Alberta has been asked to provide the high-speed rail report to the committee, which will reconvene in September.

While the fiddling continues, China has constructed several high-speed lines between major cities, and its 6,003 km network is now the world’s largest. It is planning to add another 4,000 kms in the next ten years to move people and goods with trains that top speeds of 300 km/h.

Most of the countries in Europe are running high-speed rail systems. Tracks are continuously being built and upgraded to international standards on the emerging European high-speed rail network.

We’re being left behind by societies that understand the future of mobility and the transportation network’s vital role driving the engines of economic performance. Cliff Wallis, the president of the Calgary-based Van Horne Institute, authors of the 2004 report, says there’s enough information now to understand the financial and socio-political ramifications, and politicians should get on with it. Wallis is correct. High-speed rail makes sense for the Edmonton-Calgary corridor, and the time to build it has come.

High-speed rail would create green jobs, boost the economy, reduce emissions and cut automobile injuries and death. It would provide mobility along the corridor to nearly everyone, and not just those who can drive, or afford to be driven.

As the study concludes, “In an environment of rising oil prices, the Alberta HSR (high-speed) rail system will offer an energy-efficient and cost effective alternative to air and automobile travel that businesses and individuals will be able to use to connect with all of the cities and towns of the Central and South Alberta. Since the rail trip will be highly competitive with air and auto in travel time and provide a level of interaction with all the regions’ communities, the Alberta HSR system provides a level of service that will be critical to attracting and developing “New Economy” businesses.

There are many other needs crying for funding, of course, and there always will be. The province should be moving to secure the land for the corridor now by investing some of the $2 billion it has earmarked for carbon capture and storage. Let’s go from there.