The core issue we are dealing with is a fragmented governance structure and the need for local authority to advance the interests of the harbour users, the existing terminal operators, and developers. I see personally very often in meetings with key stakeholders that there is great opportunity for investment and for diversifying the services within the port. What we are looking to do is establish the foundation or basis for supporting all the existing terminal users.
As you can appreciate, in terms of the individual landowners, everything has been divested. We have a fragmented group of people. We have a grassroots.... We have a great partnership with the existing port users to advance opportunities and requirements for the benefit of all users.
At the port corporation, we are very focused on marine services and enhancing what is needed for ships coming in and out of the port. We have aging infrastructure. I've already indicated that we have a very robust cruise industry at the terminal we operate, but we have legacy federal infrastructure that is essentially condemned. Without transitional funding, we are at risk in the ongoing operations to service the cruise industry. That would be the self-dock facility on our terminal site. It's an estimated cost of $10 million.
We have additional thoughts, depending on the responsibilities that are downloaded to us under a management agreement, if we get there, with Transport Canada. The transitional funding, which is in the tens of millions, would be very beneficial to us, but that does not speak to the upgrades to the rail alignment. The most comprehensive capital cost estimate I saw, which was from 2017, was just north of $100 million for those repairs. We have an existing rail alignment that's not been in use, but we have a rail alignment that connects our port to inland.
I don't know if you appreciate the history of Cape Breton with our steel and coal exports. It was a very robust industry all centred around our harbour. With the decline and lack of those industries, probably our biggest asset now is the available land surrounding the port. We're an underutilized harbour that has significant opportunity to complement the other ports and take some pressures off where it makes sense. We see rail as a key aspect of that.
Investment-wise, we need transitional funding and access to harbour dues that are currently remitted to Ottawa. The CPAs and even the fully divested smaller ports maintain the revenue generated by the transiting vessels for reinvestment back into the port. We don't have that opportunity in Sydney, and we would like that opportunity.