Metra has pending before the STB an application for terminal trackage rights under 49 U.S.C. § 11102(a) to continue regional/commuter rail service over three rail lines owned by freight railroad UP. The parties have been working for several years to transition UP’s decades-long operation of Metra’s passenger trains over those lines to Metra, but despite their efforts—including Board-ordered mediation in 2024—Metra and UP have been unable to negotiate a successor trackage rights agreement to allow Metra to operate over the UP lines.
Approximately 38% of Metra’s annual ridership (12 million out of a total 32 million passengers) is associated with the three lines owned, used and dispatched by UP: UP North (to Waukegan, with limited service to Kenosha, Wis.), Northwest (to Harvard and McHenry), and West (to Elburn). Those lines (see map, below) were once operated by the Chicago & North Western Railway. Metra has eight other lines; one of which, the historic Chicago, Burlington & Quincy line to Aurora, runs on right-of-way owned by BNSF, which still operates it under contract with Metra.
“Before today, July 1, 2025, the operation of Metra trains over UP’s lines had been governed by an agreement known as a ‘Purchase of Services Agreement’ (or PSA),” the STB wrote in its decision (download below). “Metra and UP had agreed on a series of short-term extensions of the PSA while attempting to negotiate a new agreement. The most recent PSA extension ended on June 30, 2025. In lieu of agreeing to a further extension, however, UP has instead presented Metra with a document termed ‘Conditions of Entry’ (COE) to govern Metra’s use of the lines, beginning July 1, 2025, pending the conclusion of this proceeding. Metra objects to the COE on multiple grounds.”
Metra on June 30, 2025, filed a Petition for Temporary Injunction—an emergency request—to which UP responded on the same day, according to the STB. “Metra contends that because its historical agreement with UP is set to expire on June 30, 2025, and with no agreement or mechanism in place to ensure that Metra’s service on UP’s Lines continues after that date, immediate interim relief is required,” the STB reported. Metra argues that “‘[p]rompt emergency service relief is essential,’ … because UP ‘presents Metra with an impossible choice’—to stop commuter services on three widely used lines, or to continue to use the lines, allowing UP to ‘insist that Metra has agreed to’ the many terms in the COE that Metra finds objectionable,” the STB said. “Metra states in its Petition that it ‘has informed UP that it will continue to operate on the Lines after expiration of the existing agreement at midnight on June 30, 2025’ but that it ‘does not agree to and will not consent to the terms of the COE.’”
In UP’s reply, it asserts that “‘there is no emergency and no prospect of imminent irreparable harm’”, and “underscores that Metra may ‘continue[] operating’ and that UP ‘will not exclude Metra,” according to the STB. Additionally, UP notes that “‘if the COE is not enforceable, then Metra will suffer no serious harm because it was never subject to the COE’s terms,’” and reiterates that “‘there is no basis to conclude that Metra will not be able to access the UP Lines once the PSA expires.’”
According to the STB, Metra’s petition is denied because it has shown “neither the irreparable harm needed for injunctive relief nor the emergency circumstances” needed for an emergency services order. “UP has said it will not exclude Metra trains from its lines, and Metra has told UP it intends to continue operating without accepting the terms of the COE,” the STB wrote in its decision. “And, as UP points out, if Metra were to choose to stop service over the UP lines, the claimed harms from the cessation of Metra’s service would be based on Metra’s choice to stop service … Metra expresses concern that if it continues to use the lines, ‘UP will insist that Metra has agreed to [the objectionable terms of the COE]’ and will ‘claim that Metra has forever waived essential legal rights it holds for the protection of its customers and the region’s taxpayers’ … But even if UP were to take either of those positions, the enforceability of the COE—a document created by UP to which Metra has not consented—remains to be determined, as UP itself acknowledges.”
The four Board Members—Patrick Fuchs, Karen Hedlund, Robert Primus, and Michelle Schultz—concurred. Board Member Primus provided a separate expression.
“I strongly question UP’s tactics in presenting the COE to Metra and claiming that Metra’s access to UP’s Lines will be governed by the terms of the COE beginning July 1, 2025,” Primus wrote. “I note, however, that there is no immediate threat of irreparable harm to Metra, as UP has not attempted to enforce the COE, and Metra has said it will continue to provide service on the UP Lines while UP has said it will not prevent Metra from accessing the UP’s Lines. That said, it is my hope that both parties respectfully work to resolve their differences and move forward together in service to the thousands of Metra passengers who commute along the three critical UP Lines.”
