Gave the railways to BNSF for basically free? I presume you're talking about the land grants back in the 19th Century; nothing else I can think of counts as "giving for free". Even then, though, the (Federal) government gave the railroads land for the track, plus blocks of land on the side. They didn't give them rail, much less an already-built railroad. True, the railroads were able to sell the land off to the side for money. But the government also required the railroads to carry the US Mail for less than cost. That continued until World War II, when the Federal government, desperate for additional money to fight the war, allowed the railroads to buy their way out of the obligation. That's hardly "for basically free" - it's an expense for the next 70 years, with a balloon payment at the end.