Chicago has always stood as the railroad center of the nation. Reflecting this status as a major rail hub, many of the Chicago area railroads provided commuter passenger service in addition to their primary freight operations. However, this network of commuter lines linking the outlying suburbs with downtown Chicago, once profitable and highly valued by the railroads as an extension of their marketing of core freight services, eventually became threatened by continuing financial losses and decades of capital disinvestment and neglect.
In 1974, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) was created by the Illinois General Assembly to coordinate and assist public transportation throughout the six-county metropolitan region and to serve as a conduit for the state and federal subsidies needed to keep the system operational. Due to ongoing financial pressures, the RTA was subsequently reorganized by the Legislature, in 1983, to provide for a service-board approach to the day-to-day operation of bus, rapid transit and commuter rail services systemwide. Under these changes to the RTA Act, the Commuter Rail Service Board emerged as the agency overseeing all commuter rail operations in the six-county area and was charged with a broad range of responsibilities with respect to fare and service levels, budgeting, capital programming, long-range planning and strategic service expansion.
Perhaps one of the more significant steps taken by the Commuter Rail Service Board was the introduction in 1984 of the “Metra” name as the service mark for the commuter system. Given the Board’s role as a dual-purpose organization responsible for systemwide oversight as well as direct operations, the adoption of the Metra logo was meant to bring a unifying identity to the various carrier components comprising the system. It was also intended to help establish and reinforce the Commuter Rail Service Board’s commitment to safe, reliable and cost-efficient rail transportation.
Today, Metra directly operates seven of its lines and contracts with two freight carriers to run four others. Metra’s contracted services include the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line to Aurora, as well as the three Union Pacific lines: the UP North Line to Kenosha, Wisconsin; the UP Northwest Line to Harvard, with branch line service to McHenry; and the UP West Line to Elburn that was extended from its former terminus at Geneva in 2006.
These contracted services are operated by the UP and BNSF railroads pursuant to purchase of service agreements (PSAs) with Metra. Under these contracts, the carriers use their employees and own or control the rights-of-way and most of the other facilities required for operations. However, Metra owns the rolling stock and, in conjunction with the local municipalities, is responsible for most stations and other passenger amenities. While working cooperatively with its freight partners, the PSAs provide Metra with overall authority with respect to fare, service, and staffing levels.
Metra also has a financial assistance grant arrangement with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), operator of the South Shore Line commuter service from South Bend, Indiana. The service shares the Metra Electric right-of-way from Kensington/115th Street to the Millennium Park station in downtown Chicago. Metra’s funding share under its agreement with NICTD is predicated on the proportion of service operated within the state of Illinois.
In the case of Metra’s direct operations, the services are actually provided through Metra’s operating arm, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, or NIRC. The NIRC was formed in the early 1980s as a means by which to continue vital commuter rail services threatened by private carrier bankruptcy and line sales. The NIRC began actual operations in June 1981 when it assumed the commuter services of the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad. At that time, the NIRC's operational and managerial authority with respect to the Rock Island was exercised essentially as an adjunct staff function within the RTA.
However, with the assumption of the former Milwaukee Road commuter lines the following year, as well as the consolidation of all RTA railroad responsibilities under the NIRC, a more fully developed organizational structure was required. Accordingly, on October 1, 1982, the NIRC was formally established as a separate rail operating subsidiary with broad responsibility for commuter rail operations on a regional or system-wide basis. The NIRC organization that emerged was eventually transferred to the then newly formed Commuter Rail Service Board as part of the general RTA restructuring completed in 1984.
Subsequently, the NIRC took over operation of the former Illinois Central Gulf electric lines acquired by Metra in 1987. In addition, the NIRC also operates the former GMO service to Joliet as Metra’s Heritage Corridor; the former Norfolk & Western line to Orland Park as Metra’s SouthWest Service, a route that has since been extended to Manhattan; and Metra’s newest line, the North Central Service, to Antioch near the Wisconsin border. The NIRC also handles all commuter passenger ticket sales at Chicago Union Station (including for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe commuter service) as a result of its acquisition of the former CUS Station Company in the late 1980s.
The employees engaged in these direct Metra operations are the NIRC’s and it negotiates directly with them on all matters pertaining to wages, work rules, working conditions, and benefits. However, recognizing that good faith collective bargaining alone would not be sufficient to ensure overall organizational and operational success, the NIRC has worked hard over the years to foster a cooperative, productive relationship with its employees. The Metra Labor/Management Committee, in place since 1983, has played a critical role in this process and has helped bring labor and management together on the many areas of mutual interest and common concern.
Since its formation in 1984 - the outgrowth of a near total collapse of the region’s public transportation system in the late 1970s and early 1980s - Metra has remained focused on its fundamental mission to preserve, modernize, and expand commuter rail service throughout the six-county area. Metra has consistently made the investments required to enhance system reliability, operational performance and cost efficiency. Committed to the twin objectives of core system maintenance/renewal and strategic service expansion, Metra has leveraged available capital resources so as to reduce overall operating costs and to grow the system to meet the ever-increasing demand for new and better rail service.
Over the past 25+ years, Metra has invested more than $5 billion in improvements to the system, including new and/or rehabilitated rolling stock, renovated track and structures, modernized signal and communication systems, upgraded electrical systems and support facilities, and new stations and parking. In 2006, Metra completed expansion of its North Central Service as well as extensions of its UP West Line to Elburn and its SouthWest Service to Manhattan, with the projects finished on schedule and $50 million under budget. Core capacity improvements are currently planned for Metra’s UP West and UP Northwest lines. Also on the drawing boards is Metra’s new SouthEast Service and its suburb-to-suburb STAR line, plus major rolling stock acquisitions and bridge and yard renewal projects.
In its history, Metra has accomplished much; in its future, there is much for Metra to do. Metra remains committed to working with all of its stakeholders in order to ensure funding for Metra to meet the transportation needs of the region now and as it moves further into the 21st century.
