Metra v. UPRR again
News & Reviews News Wire Metra asks STB to require Union Pacific to continue to allow commuter operations
Metra asks STB to require Union Pacific to continue to allow commuter operations
By David Lassen | March 7, 2025
Filing says service is ‘in jeopardy’ with sides at impasse over financial terms of operations transfer
Metra is asking the Surface Transportation Board to take action to ensure it can continue to operate on UP lines. David Lassen
CHICAGO — In the latest twist in Union Pacific’s long-running effort to exit Chicago commuter rail operations, commuter agency Metra has asked the Surface Transportation Board to require UP to allow Metra to continue operating on the three UP lines it serves.
Metra’s filing today (March 7, 2025) asks the board to provide terminal trackage rights, because, it says, Metra service “is in jeopardy” since UP could terminate Metra use of the UP North, Northwest, and West lines when the current purchase-of-service agreement expires. That agreement, one of several recent short-term extensions of a contract dating to 2010, expires June 30. UP has previously said it expected the transfer of operations to take place in April [see “UP says Metra will take over …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 11, 2025].
“Because the two sides are at an impasse and Metra cannot accede to UP’s unilateral and unreasonable economic terms,” the filing says, “Metra is seeking to establish its terminal trackage rights.” The filing cites a regulation allowing the STB to “require terminal facilities, including main-line tracks for a reasonable distance outside of a terminal … to be used by another rail carrier if the Board finds that use to be practicable and in the public interest without substantially impairing the ability of the rail carrier owning the facilities … to handle its own business.”
That provision also allows the board to establish conditions and compensation if the two sides are unable to do so. “Metra is not asking the Board to establish compensation at this time,” the filing says, “but reserves the right to do so, if UP ceases providing service and Metra and UP are unable to resolve the compensation level.”
The UP-Metra relationship has been a difficult one during much of the time since the two sides began negotiating a transfer of operations [see “Metra, Union Pacific in talks …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 5, 2019]. A federal lawsuit filed by UP found that the freight railroad had no common-carrier obligation to continue operating commuter trains [see “Court rules Union Pacific is not obligated …,” News Wire, July 28, 2023].
The two sides also clashed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic over UP’s decision not to collect fares from passengers on its three lines, citing health reasons, at a time when other routes were doing so. That led Metra to sue UP [see “Metra sues Union Pacific over fare collection …,” News Wire, Oct. 14, 2020]. After a period in which it checked for fares only at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center, UP eventually began regular fare collection in June 2021, about a year after collection had begun on other Metra routes [see “Union Pacific to resume fare collection …,” News Wire, April 20, 2021.
Metra has previously asked the STB to intervene in the dispute [see “Metra asks STB for injunction …,” News Wire, July 21, 2020], but the board declined action while the federal lawsuit was in progress. Last year, it ordered the two sides to mediation at the request of UP [see “Regulators order …,” News Wire, Aug. 16, 2024]. Mediation was extended several times before the two sides reported reaching an impasse earlier this year.
Throughout the negotiations and disputes, the two sides have regularly stated that service would continue while their issues were resolved. Metra’s filing does not cite any indication this has changed, just the possibility that UP could choose to withdraw permission.
The filing asks that the STB “proceed expeditiously,” and suggests a 180-day timeline to decide the request.
A Union Pacific spokeswoman said the railroad is “aware of the complaint and will review,” but was unable to offer further comment as of this evening.
