This sure smells like corruption.
This may be literally life of death for some affected persons. A lot of folks in Alaska could die if deprived of a public option for transportation of goods they rely on for survival.
If a private railway is a good capitalist idea, let's let the magic hand of capitalism provide a new separate private line.
Maintaining a public option is common sense economics. The market can add more options, if there's actually real value being missed, but the rest of us can still vote against it with our time and energy when it tries to enshitify.