That's the problem right there. I'm not a railroad operations whiz, but that 966 employee number sounds out of whack compared to the size of the railroad. I'd like to see ONR's ton-miles and passenger-miles related to their employees and especially compared to a similar-sized shortline. Also, jointed rail in this day and age is nonsense. If this railroad is going to be a powerplay for natural resource transport, jointed rail is an archaic maintenance-intensive albatross.
As a comparison, the Indiana Rail Road has 255 miles of track and 500 total miles, and they employ 200 people.
What's wrong with selling the railroad to CN or CP (or G&W, or Rail America) and having someone such as Via, CN, Keolis, et al... operate the Northlander and Polar Bear? If it saves Ontario money, that's a good thing.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.