CHICAGO — Metra will open an online merchandise store on Wednesday, Dec. 10, offering Metra-branded merchandise such as replica station signs, T-shirts and hoodies, and mugs and water bottles. It is the first time the commuter rail operator has offered such products for sale. “This new store is part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen […]
WASHINGTON — Metra on Tuesday asked the Surface Transportation Board to set conditions and compensation for the Chicago-area commuter railroad’s continued use of Union Pacific tracks and facilities. In a regulatory filing, Metra told federal regulators that it has been unable to reach a trackage rights agreement with UP that would cover its use of […]
CHICAGO — Metra’s board of directors has approved a $1.2 billion operating budget for fiscal 2026, eliminating the commuter rail operator’s previously planned fare increase as well as a planned $60 million transfer of operating funds to its capital program. The capital plan for 2026 is budgeted at $515.3 million. The transit bill passed by […]
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 […]
CHICAGO — Some projects of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency, or CREATE, program are begun and completed with relatively limited fanfare. That is certainly not the case with the Forest Hill Flyover, which carries the tracks of CSX Transportation over lines used by Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, the Belt Railway of Chicago, and […]
WASHINGTON — The ongoing dispute between Metra and Union Pacific over commuter rail operations in the Chicago area was back before the Surface Transportation Board as the board resumed activity following the shutdown of the federal government. Both parties filed a joint status report on negotiations today (Nov. 13), while Metra offered a fairly brief […]
CHICAGO — Tickets go on sale Nov. 17 at noon for Metra’s annual Holiday Trains, to operate on five of its routes in December. The specially decorated trains featuring holiday characters will operate on the Metra Electric, BNSF, Milwaukee West, Rock Island, and Union Pacific Northwest lines. The Metra Electric trips will also feature a […]
CHICAGO — The Regional Transportation Authority is scrapping plans for fare increases by Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace in the wake of passage of Illinois legislation providing new funding for the transit operations. Given budget deficits and uncertainty over state funding, the RTA had required all three operating agencies to include […]
WASHINGTON — The conductor of a Union Pacific train was standing in a track adjacent to his train for an unknown reason when he was struck and killed by a Metra train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final investigation report on the Sept. 4, 2024, accident in Kenosha, Wis. The incident occurred […]
MOLINE, Ill. — The transit bill passed early Friday (Oct. 31) by Illinois legislators doesn’t just address the financial needs and governing structure of transit operations in the Chicago area. Tucked into the bill’s more than 1,000 pages are two provisions that legislators say should boost the long-running effort to launch rail passenger service between […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois legislature has passed a package of funding measures to support Chicago-area transit agencies, while also restructuring those agencies. The 1,043-page Senate Bill 2111 will wipe out the collective shortfall of more than $200 million faced by Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace, avoiding CTA service cuts that […]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A new proposal to fund Chicago’s transit agencies was introduced on Tuesday (Oct. 28) in the state’s House of Representatives. By Wednesday, it appeared to be dead. Gov. JB Pritzker said at a Wednesday event that the bill was “not going forward” in its current form because he had issues with the […]
