WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has ordered Union Pacific and Metra to enter mediation over their inability to reach financial terms on some aspects of a contract to continue commuter train service on three Metra routes using Union Pacific lines.
In a decision issued Wednesday, Aug. 14, the board by a 4-0 vote granted the request by Union Pacific, which said that while the two said the two sides have made meaningful progress in negotiations dating to 2019, the board-sponsored mediation may help reach agreement. Metra argued the move was premature and that negotiations have stalled because UP has not provided financial information necessary for it to evaluate UP’s proposal. Mediation is to be completed within 60 days of appointment of a mediator, but may be extended by mutual written request.
Union Pacific announced last March that it had begun the process to “safely and seamlessly transfer” its commuter operations to Metra [see “Union Pacific announces start of transition …,” Trains News Wire, March 30, 2023]. These have long operated by the railroad under a purchase-of-service agreement — essentially a subsidy for the railroad to provide personnel, shops, and maintenance workers to operate and maintain the commuter trains. After the transfer is complete, Metra will employ operating crews, mechanical and rolling-stock maintenance workers, and most other dedicated commuter workers currently employed by UP; Union Pacific will continue to maintain and dispatch the West, Northwest, and North lines used by the Metra trains.
Some management workers began moving to Metra even before that announcement, but the process has been complicated both by the financial issues to be addressed by the mediation and by labor issues involved with current Union Pacific employees who could face changes in both seniority and pay by moving to the commuter operator.
Older, longer tenured UP employees would lose out in a Metra transfer. Younger UP employees have more years to recover any smaller losses they might take on.
“Next stop is Glen Ellyn, beautiful downtown Glen Ellyn”
Last stop, Geneva, maybe one of America’s most gorgeous towns. On the way observe construction of the third (southernmost) track including a new bridge over the Fox River. (Maybe by now close to completion.) Also a heavy freight route for fans of UPRR freight.
CNW was built to exceptionally high engineering standards in Chicago and suburbia. Ogilvie alone is worth a visit, to see ten-car gallery trains loading. No, not all railroads are the same.