In playing catchup of course the C & TS is losing money. However. in another way it is making money. The area served by the railroad brings in a lot of money that, without the railroad, would not be coming in. It's impossible to assign an exact dollar figure brought in but both states need to realize that in order to make money you have to spend some.
Without this railroad there would be a lot of tourist money going elsewhere, probably in other states and two small communities would almost dry up and blow away.