B.C. firms are in line to help build proposed high-speed railways outside the province, says the vice-president of Bombardier Transportation.

“Certainly, on the planning and engineering and feasibility/ pre-development stage, some of the best firms that I’ve seen anywhere in the world are working right here in British Columbia,” said Lecia Stewart, after a recent speech in Vancouver to a B.C. construction industry roundtable.

Bombardier has identified 13 markets in North America that it believes are suitable for high-speed rail lines. A soon-to-be released feasibility study by the Van Horne Institute on a proposed Calgary-Edmonton high-speed line estimates the cost at $1.5 billion to more than $3 billion, said Stewart.

Bombardier is also in line to build a high-speed rail route in Florida, which is among its more advanced proposed projects. A Fluor-Bombardier partnership was awarded the Florida contract last fall, but the project has been stalled at the state government level.

Lecia Stewart worked on Sky Train and West Coast Express.

“I’ve had the pleasure to work with many (B.C. firms) and they’re as capable as anybody that I’ve worked with around the world to do the kind of pre-feasibility and feasibility work that needs to be done in any jurisdiction,” said Stewart.

“So the people who fill this room represent some of that best intellectual capital that exists here in Vancouver and in British Columbia, and I will look to them to support initiatives that we’re involved in anywhere in the world.”

B.C. government and Washington state officials have discussed building a high-speed line between Vancouver and Seattle, which would use Spanish technology and be completed in 2023. Stewart estimated the cost of that line would be $5 billion, but Bombardier is not involved with that project.

Before joining Montreal-based Bombardier, Vancouver native Stewart worked for the B.C. government and oversaw construction of the Millennium line Sky Train expansion and the West Coast Express commuter train between downtown Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. She left and joined Bombardier after Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberals replaced the former NDP government in 2001.

Stewart recently moved back to North Vancouver, prompting speculation that she may head up the new RAV rapid transit line between Vancouver International Airport and downtown, should Bombardier, one of two final bidders, win the contract. RAV has proceeded to the best-and-final-offer stage. TransLink, the authority that governs rapid transit in Greater Vancouver, is expected to award the contract in November.

But Stewart said she moved back to the Vancouver area for family reasons, and she is spending “150 per cent” of her time on the Florida project.

Tony Steadman of the Vancouver engineering firm Anthony Steadman and Associates, who advised Bombardier on its high-speed rail bid in Florida, said there is “incredible” interest among B.C. firms to work on high-speed trains elsewhere.

“We’ve certainly successfully built the transit systems here,” said Steadman, referring to SkyTrain.

“As Lecia (Stewart) says, at the end of the day, there’s not a big difference between any of them. It’s the ‘same-old same-old’ in a different setup. So we’re certainly very capable and, I imagine, every firm here is very interested.”

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)