"The consultants said it makes more economic sense just to use what aggregate is available for a railroad bed. Building a road would take 4.5 years. Building a railroad is 7.8 years. Both options require bridge work to cross several streams and major rivers like the Albany and the Attawapiskat Rivers. The consultants recommend that construction begin “as early as possible.”

"1882, January 1 - William Cornelius Van Horne is appointed General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Van Horne succeeded in laying 480 miles of track across the Prairies in the summer of 1882. "

7.8 years???? Now I realize that building across the Prairies doesn't come close to approximating the geology of muskeg/swamp up to the ROF, but then again, that was done greater than 130 years ago! Gotta be able to do better than 7.8 years non?....