CHICAGO — Metra has been awarded $19.3 million in its suit against Union Pacific over UP’s decision not to collect fares on Metra trains during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news report.
The suburban Daily Herald newspaper reports a Cook County, Ill., jury delivered the verdict on Wednesday. Metra spokesman Michael Gillis told the paper, “We have said all along that our obligation is to protect our customers and taxpayers of the region, and on their behalf we are gratified by this verdict.” Union Pacific indicated an appeal is possible, telling the paper in a statement, “We are disappointed in the jury’s decision and are exploring our post-trial options.”
The suit — just one facet of the contentious, litigious relationship between the commuter operator and freight railroad — dates to October 2020. All Metra lines stopped collecting fares in the early stages of the pandemic, but collection resumed in June 2020 on all but the UP North, Northwest, and West lines. At that time, UP operated those lines under a purchase-of-service agreement — Metra has since taken over operation — and cited the death of two employees and pandemic-related health concerns for the move. It did not resume any form of fare collection until it began checking tickets for arriving and departing passengers at the downtown Ogilvie Transportation Center on Oct. 5 of that year. Metra — which had said UP’s policy was costing it $1 million a month in lost fares — filed suit nine days later [see “Metra sues Union Pacific …,” Trains.com, Oct. 14, 2020].
Union Pacific eventually restored normal ticket procedures on June 1, 2021 [see “Union Pacific to resume fare collection …,” Trains.com, April 20, 2021].
The fare lawsuit is one of just several regulatory and legal battles in which the parties have been engaged since 2019, when UP expressed its desire to exit the commuter rail business. In the most recent developments, the sides have been unable to reach agreement on a new contract for Metra’s use of the UP lines; that led to a Surface Transportation Board decision in September awarding Metra trackage rights on the UP North, Northwest, and West lines [see “STB grants Metra request …,” Sept. 3, 2025]. Days later, UP sued Metra, seeking more than $2.2 million it said it was owed for the period between the June 30 expiration of the two sides’ previous contract and the STB decision. During that period, UP argues, Metra was bound by operating terms it had imposed on July 1 [see “Union Pacific sues Metra …,” Trains.com, Sept. 9, 2025].
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