WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked the Surface Transportation Board to deny Metra’s request that the board settle the terms of Metra operation on three UP lines, calling it an attempt to stall UP’s appeal of the STB decision granting trackage rights to the Chicago-area commuter railroad.
In a Dec. 15 filing, UP says the two sides have been making progress in negotiations, and that Metra asked the STB to intervene just a few days after the commuter operator told UP in a letter that its goal remains to reach agreement or identify remaining issues.
The Metra request to “commence a complex proceeding on compensation and conditions appears driven by a desire to justify abeyance in the pending appeal from the September 3 [trackage rights] order,” UP argues. “The board should not allow Metra’s appellate strategy to undermine ongoing efforts at private resolution of these issues.”
UP also says that based on a prior filing, it “assumes that Metra will seek to expand” the trackage rights ruling “to a potentially wide array of other real estate and/or facilities.” That effort, the freight railroad says, would have to be resolved separately before compensation and terms could be addressed. It suggests a 50-day process in which Metra would identify any additional facilities for which it seeks access, UP would respond after 30 days, and Metra would provide a rebuttal 20 days after that.
Union Pacific also asks that the board consider requiring mediation to aid the parties in reaching an agreement.
Metra made the request for the STB to set conditions and compensation for use of the UP lines in a Dec. 2 filing, saying that while the parties had made progress in addressing terms under the Sept. 3 decision, “it is clear at this point that the parties will not reach agreement on all remaining disputed issues in a way that would remove the need for Board involvement.” [See “Metra asks STB to settle …,” Trains.com, Dec. 3, 2025.]
In the Sept. 3 decision, the board had granted Metra trackage rights on the three UP-owned lines where it operates the UP North, Northwest, and West lines, saying it found a “compelling need” to grant those rights to ensure commuter service continues, given that “UP has made it clear that it has no obligation to provide passenger rail service” [see “STB grants Metra request ….,” Sept. 3, 2025]. UP is seeking to overturn that decision; in a suit filed Sept. 29 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, it argued the STB erred in claiming jurisdiction over the matter, in finding that Metra’s request was in the public interest — and in granting the trackage rights without setting terms and conditions.
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