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.
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