WASHINGTON – A French firm that may want a piece of California's high-speed rail project would face costly and embarrassing lawsuits from Holocaust survivors under a bill now trying to gain steam on Capitol Hill.

The bill would expose the government-owned rail giant SNCF to lawsuits from victims transported aboard its trains to World War II concentration camps. The legislation also provokes questions about SNCF's interest in California's high-speed rail future.

"Yeah, there are complications," Rep. Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles, said Wednesday. "The answer is for the rail company and the French government to confront the issue and get that past them."

The complications could start soon, as the California High-Speed Rail Authority this week began inviting companies to present their qualifications for the rail project's first phase from Madera to just south of Fresno. Potential bidders have a month to submit initial applications.

A subsidiary called SNCF America has expressed interest in the design and construction of the statewide project, whose estimated cost is now around $98 billion.

Technically, the so-called Holocaust Rail Justice Act discussed by lawmakers Wednesday does not impinge on this California rail project. But practically speaking, the bill casts a shadow over one of the project's big potential players.

The legislation targets SNCF for its role in transporting an estimated 75,000 Jews and other victims from France to concentration camps. One of them was Leo Bretholz, a 90-year-old Baltimore resident who in 1942 escaped from an SNCF train bound for Auschwitz.

"There was hardly room to stand or sit or squat in the cattle car," Bretholz recalled for the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

SNCF officials say they were compelled by Nazi authorities to provide the rail transportation.

Bretholz and other survivors subsequently sued SNCF, which stands for Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais. An appellate court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the government-owned rail company enjoyed sovereign immunity.

The bill was first introduced in 2003 with four House co-sponsors. It would essentially sidestep this ruling and let lawsuits proceed. The bill now has 40 House co-sponsors, including Berman and Democratic Reps. Dennis Cardoza of Merced and Jim Costa of Fresno.

Similar legislation passed the California Legislature last year. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

Rail company officials were not invited to testify Wednesday, but they have Capitol Hill clout. SNCF America paid the lobbying firm Dutko Worldwide $950,000 over the past year to work on issues including "Holocaust accountability," lobbying records show.

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