Ok, this is going to sound REALLY stupid....
BUT.....
If the Commission want to run the shops, maintainance and so on.....
Why don't they just run the whole shebang and hire a full time manager and a full time marketing person and make sure the capital improvements are made and just say "this is our railroad and we are going to by-God run it well."
I honestly don't see how they can possibly expect to split the operations and actually make the thing fly without a bunch of problems...
Just MHO and 2cents worth....