When the Mayors of Vancouver, Seattle and Portland got together last month to sign a memorandum of agreement regarding their pursuit of high-speed rail linking these three Cascadia civic titans, it could have been passed off as another pie in the sky plan that was going nowhere.

But, Councillor Geoff Meggs hopped a train down to Portland this morning to continue to pursue the idea – namely to “set agendas and share best practices” and “work to establish municipal and regional task forces on high-speed rail to coordinate outreach to key stakeholders, support local efforts, and achieve results toward high-speed rail and station funding, planning and construction.”

I expect to get a full report from the Councillor on today’s proceedings, and will report back tomorrow.

More specfically, I want to find out the validity of these assertions made by the Tyee’s Monte Paulsen in a series of pieces on high speed rail from last year:

“The truth is as hard and cold as a steel rail: Neither U.S. President Barack Obama’s multi-billion-dollar rail stimulus package nor Washington State’s long-range plan to revive passenger rail in the Pacific Northwest envisions the creation of high-speed service to Vancouver.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation also has no plans for high-speed rail. Instead, as a direct result of years of inaction, Minister Kevin Falcon appears to have helped turn away hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. stimulus funds that were allotted to improve track conditions north of Seattle.

The Government of Canada has specifically excluded British Columbia from discussions about the creation of high-speed rail lines in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. And the Harper government is literally barring a Washington State effort to bring a second daily Amtrak train across the border.”

I would be curious to find out whether the cities are pushing a boulder up a steep hill when it comes to attempts at agenda setting with provincial, state and federal governments on both sides of the border.

It is one year later, and the above-linked memorandum has set out some pretty specific targets and courses of action to pursue, making this united front of civic power very intriguing.

I am also going to send Rick Antonson from Tourism Vancouver a note to find out the viewpoint on the kind of impact such a passenger link would make on a tourism sector that is severely lacking in this city at the moment.

Until tomorrow folks.