The project was on hold due to financial irregularities between A2A's only shareholder, Sean McCoshen, and A2A's main financial backer Bridging Finance Inc.[3] At the time of the receivership filing, the railroad was still in a conceptual stage and the only assets identified by the receiver were consulting reports and intellectual property.
[2][non-primary source needed] A rival enterprise, G7G Railway, estimated in 2020 the capital cost to be just under US$20 billion.
They proposed shipping oil, via the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, from rail cars in Delta Junction to the coast.
In 2021, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) began investigating irregularities in the business dealings between the main financier of the A2A project, Bridging Finance Inc., and A2A's president, Sean McCoshen.
[14] Additionally, the OSC also alleged that "millions of dollars pledged for A2A rail also went to McCoshen's personal bank account and to an apparently unrelated company controlled by him.