I'll answer the best I can, and perhaps one of my colleagues can jump in, because I don't have a great deal of knowledge on the rail system.
In terms of cost, we did a project recently called “Building the Future” in Ontario and other provinces. A quote that stuck with me from one of the local government folks was that they would rather have no money predictably than the scattergun randomness that they're often left to deal with in response to random calls for funding. It becomes very difficult to work in a system of unpredictability.
There's a need for predictability and stability particularly around transit. This is one of the reasons we see the intercommunity regional transit in British Columbia being more successful. It is because of the provincial entity B.C. Transit, which works with local governments and creates local, regional systems.
Is it perfect? No. Does it handle those long-distance things or cross-province things? Absolutely not. However, it does provide operational funding and predictability and stability for those communities.