Metra seeks to temporarily maintain status quo in UP contract dispute

WASHINGTON — Metra has proposed that terms for its continued operation on Union Pacific lines in the Chicago area maintain the status quo until the sides reach an agreement or regulators rule in their ongoing contract dispute, according to the commuter operator’s latest filing with the Surface Transportation Board.

The June 23 filing is part of Metra’s request for terminal trackage rights on three UP lines, which it says will assure its continued operation until the sides settle their dispute. It is the scheduled response to Union Pacific’s initial arguments in the proceeding, filed earlier this month [see “Union Pacific urges STB to turn down Metra bid …,” Trains News Wire, June 5, 2025].

Metra says its proposal for interim status-quo terms would be subject to “retroactive adjustment in either parties’ favor after final conditions and compensation” are determined. The terms are “demonstrably workable,” the Metra filing says, “because for all intents and purposes they already are in use.”

Metra has argued that Union Pacific is seeking an increase of than 100% in fees to use its lines, while doing less than it did under the longstanding Purchase of Service Agreement, under which UP operated and maintained the trains on Metra’s UP West, Northwest, and North lines. Metra took over the operation and equipment maintenance on those three routes as of May 16.

Union Pacific has said the current terms are woefully out of date and it is essentially being asked to subsidize Metra operations.

Metra’s latest filing again seeks to disprove UP’s contention that the STB does not have jurisdiction because of the largely intrastate nature of Metra operation. Both sides have previously addressed this, in a UP motion to dismiss [See “Union Pacific asks regulators to dismiss …,” News Wire, May 23, 2025] and the Metra response [see “Metra responds to UP request …,” News Wire, June 16, 2025].

The new filing also argues that Metra’s request for the trackage rights meets five statutory elements specified under the law, including that its use of the UP lines is “practicable,” will not “substantially impair” UP’s ability to operate, and that its use of the UP lines is in the public interest.

Metra also aims to poke holes in a key portion of UP’s initial arguments, which sought to establish that its proposed terms were reasonable by comparing them with other contracts for passenger operating access — including some involving Metra. The public version of the UP filing included the access fees for Metra and other operators, but redacted the terms UP had offered Metra and those of UP agreements with other commuter or passenger operations. Metra subsequently revealed the terms UP plans to impose on July 1, when the current agreement expires.

The latest Metra filing argues, through a report prepared by a consultant, that most of the other contracts cited by Union Pacific — five involving UP, and eight between other hosts and commuter operations — are not comparable. The report contends they either involve intercity passenger service rather than commuter rail; address operations with far less frequency; or do not take into account differences in components of the rate, such as the inclusion of maintenance or capital contributions. In all cases, the report argues, the operations cited are not comparable in two or more of those ways.

Under the schedule established by the STB after Metra made its trackage-rights request, the latest Metra filing is the final step in the case schedule established by the board in March, meaning the matter is now in the board’s hands. Still unaddressed is the UP motion to dismiss the case.