WASHINGTON (CP) Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie says the Canadian and U.S. governments need to get involved in a massive railway project he's supporting as a critical step to opening up the North.

What we are presenting and promoting is infrastructure that will have positive impacts on both Canada and the United States,'' Fentie said today at a joint news conference with Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski.

We have advanced the concept of this whole project considerably over the last two months between our two jurisdictions.''

Feasibility studies are underway, said Fentie, and will take about 18 months.

The project, with early cost estimates of some $5 billion Cdn, would link Alaska with southern rail systems through the Yukon and northern British Columbia.

It would expedite the Alaska natural gas pipeline project, provide a rail link for goods, passengers and containers from Asia and open up Yukon resources to development.

Fentie is in town to lobby U.S. politicians on the project. He got support from Murkowski, who also touted the railway project and the benefits of a northern pipeline to funnel natural gas south.

We're going to start laying some track, if I have to do it myself, in 2006,'' said Murkowski.

We mean business. It's a huge land mass with virtually no access.''

The two men disagree on the benefits of drilling for oil in Alaska's wildlife reserve. Canada has long opposed that project, saying it would disrupt the migration patterns of caribou.

However, that issue has never stopped the two from working together on other projects, Fentie said.