WASHINGTON — Rebutting a Union Pacific motion to dismiss, Chicago area commuter rail operator Metra says the Surface Transportation Board clearly has jurisdiction to address its request for trackage rights — part of its ongoing dispute with UP over financial terms for continued operation on three Union Pacific lines.
And in a turnabout — after UP revealed details of access-fee contracts for Metra and other operators in another STB filing, while redacting its own proposed fees — Metra’s June 12 filing has made public the UP contract, which it says include an increase of more than 100%, along with “other unreasonable and coercive terms and conditions.”
In May, Union Pacific called for the STB to dismiss the case, arguing that the “essential character” of Metra is that of an intrastate, not interstate, operation, despite the existence of one station in Wisconsin — and therefore is not a matter for the federal agency [see “Union Pacific asks regulators to dismiss …,” Trains News Wire, May 23, 2025].
Metra, in response, says that the law makes no such distinction about “essential character,” and that the existence of that one station on the UP North line in Kenosha, Wis., makes it an interstate operator. It also provides citations that the commuter agency was subject to the Interstate Commerce Commission prior to the dissolution of that agency and the establishment of the STB — a legal requirement to establish STB jurisdiction. Even a Metra request for an exemption from ICC oversight, included in UP’s filing to illustrate that Metra had previously claimed to not be subject to federal regulation, proves the opposite point, according to the commuter operator — because “the ICC necessarily determined it had jurisdiction when it granted the exemption.”
Metra also sharply disputes UP’s argument in its motion to dismiss that Metra was seeking to have the board provide access rather than achieving it through negotiation, although noting that has no bearing on the jurisdictional question. Trackage rights would give it the ability to negotiate, Metra argues; otherwise it would be “forced to accede to a 100%-plus increase in costs … along with a host of one-sided terms and conditions harmful to the public interests.”
Metra says that the UP contract for access, or “Conditions of Entry,” will be imposed on July 1, with Metra “barred from … operating its trains on the UP Lines unless Metra complies with its non-negotiated provisions.” Those provisions call for a usage rate of $18.50 per train mile, with a 2.9% increase each Jan. 1; Metra says this will more than double the current rate of $21 million annually. It also calls for additional payments for use of stations, platforms, yards, and other areas “previously included in UP’s [Purchase of Service Agreement] return.”
That rate, incidentally, is low compared to those UP included in its June 3 filing in the trackage-rights case, which range from $19.76 to $66.41 per train mile [see “Union Pacific urges STB to turn down …,” News Wire, June 5, 2025]. The fees cited by UP do not involve Union Pacific and do not include the full context of the agreements, however. Fees for UP’s other passenger and commuter agreements were redacted in that filing, as were its terms for Metra.
Metra also says the contract — included in full as an accompanying exhibit — would make Metra responsible for all capital expenditures for the lines involved, and provides no assurances of providing on-time performance beyond “reasonable efforts to minimize disruption of Metra’s schedule.”
The filing’s concluding argument is that UP “has raised no legal or factual basis” to support its claim that the STB has no jurisdiction, and that the new UP contract to take effect July 1 — after the current contract expires — “confirm the need for the Board to exercise its discretion to grant the remedial relief.”
