BNSF isn't a publicly trade company and doesn't have any shareholders to please but its far from being better then the other railroads and while on the subject most of the class 1 shares are held in mutual and index funds from the main 3 managers so a lot of people end up having shares in them and don't realize and if they do don't really care enough to take part in anything.Welcome to America, where government gives money to (multi)billion dollar companies.I don't want any money going to fund BNSF, or CP as they should be responsible for the safe maintenance of their tracks or else give up ownership to the government. But for the smaller ones that don't make much of a profit, it's much harder to afford maintenance. I think it's good that the state helps them stay afloat and keep trucks off our road.
The state gives plenty to truck companies with all the massive roads and highways we built, seems only fair we give something to railroads, which is the most efficient land-based transportation we have.
A couple years ago MnDOT helped fund a bridge rehab project in South Minneapolis on Canadian Pacific owned tracks, and I remember someone on here contacting MnDOT to try to pressure CP and the Minnesota Commercial Railway (the primary user of those tracks) to accept an extension of the Midtown Greenway across the Mississippi in exchange for that funding. I don't remember the details on MnDOT's response, but I know they didn't give that idea any consideration. I would absolutely support helping out the railroads and in return they allow public use of their right-of-way (trails, transit, etc.), but it seems the people at MnDOT aren't interested in trying that for whatever reason(s).
I don't disagree with you, but the corporate culture at these companies favors keeping the shareholders happy over the people who run and maintain the trains and infrastructure. That culture will be tough to change, and if nationalisation of the railway network gets any traction in the federal government I'm sure these companies would rather spend money on lobbyists to prevent that from happening instead of taking better care of their equipment and infrastructure.
I actually had a message recently to take part in a proxy vote for CSX (I assume from a vaguard index fund I have) but ended up ignoring it because I really don't anyone up for the vote and even if I did it would of been a drop in the bucket to try and sway things.