Money does not grow on trees, and the money that comes out of chromite mines has other uses.
I agree that this routing would be the perfect "tourism" ride, but it would require much of the cost of maintaining the Sudbury-Soo and Soo-Franz lines to passenger quality to be charged against the cost of operating the Canadian. That would put a dent in the train's economics, and since the train is already pretty well patronised on its existing route, there really isn't room for any upside in the revenue equation.
So, it comes back to the same question .... put the money available into this project, or into some other?
Again, I would say restoring bus service would be a better use of the money than making this change...as much as I would dearly love to ride this route, it's not a proposition that will get much support.
- Paul