CHICAGO — Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified an agreement setting the stage for transfer of operations from Union Pacific to Metra on three Metra commuter lines, according to a report on the BLET website.
Union Pacific has been seeking to transfer operations on the UP North, Northwest, and West lines to Metra for some time, and UP announced in March 2023 that process had begun [see “Union Pacific announces start of transition …,” Trains News Wire, March 30, 2023]. Union contracts and such matters as pay and senority have complicated that process; the BLET says the newly ratified agreement covers “vacation, flowback, and additional provisions” for a new operating entity, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp., that will take over the operations from UP.
Some 307 BLET members are covered by the agreement.
No date has yet been set for the transfer of operations from UP, a Metra spokesman said last week.
The Metra name/logo will stay. It’s the brand name, if you will, for NIRC since the RTA split commuter rail, CTA and suburban bus (PACE) into three separate operating entities in the mid-1980s. NIRC is the official railroad name.
Correct. Metra is the marketing name, not the corporate entity name.
NIRC is the corporate entity.
Now, give the lines the rightful names: CNW North, West and Northwest.
The two MILW distrcts are named after a former railroad. With UPRR gone, the three UPRR districts should be named after the former railroad, CNW. CNW built the infrastructure and established the commuter lines. (Including the left-handed running). UPRR had zilch to do with it.
Much as I’m a Santa Fe fan, the BNSF line has zero to do with the “SF” and should be renamed “Burlington”.
Charles, The electric line is just called “Metra Electric” not “IC or CN Electric”.
The MILW routes probably got that name because they were the last Class 1 to operate it. So in this case “UP West” would be right because UP is the railroad using it at the time of the employee transfer.
@Charles Landey: ABSOLUTELY!
Moving right along, the UP has been trying to get rid of the commuter service and its operation since taking over the C&NW in 1995. An early meeting at that time had UP people shaking their heads saying that you couldn’t possibly run that many trains in a 24 hour period. Well it was being done every day.
How long will it take to eliminate the Metra logos and get the new NIRC RR logo designed and applied?