And I can not believe Cashin that you think of road OR railway. Both are needed as pointed out by Been There. The region can not be fully developed on strength of railway alone.

I do not think that there is anyone on this forum who would argue against rail being most economic form of transport.
I will also say that amortized time period is irrelevant because the Ring has so much going for it that it will be serving Ontario for the next 100 years, and the railway will probably pay for itself in a couple of decades, provided mines get built in the time that they should.

Chromite is the main reason for rail to be built now but it will serve many more. For starters our nickel ore will also be on it but long term there will be many mines producing many metals. Using our vanadium as example, unless a better method of storing power is found, our vanadium will be used for power storage from wind turbines and solar panels. Yes a portion of power needed will be produced locally.

As for the E/W road, it is only a starter. Eventually there will be many roads. (The second one is likely to be along the rail way path, then next one to Hudson Bay? etc.)
Just look at Sudbury region, now and compare to beginings of 20th century.

Imagination run wild, cheers for the future, Ed.