Join the discussion on the following article:
RTA says Metra needs new operating agreements to boost performance
CSX has little to no impact to Metra, as they only cross CSX/B&OCT Property and don’t operate on their property. If they did, I am sure they would have a good on time schedule.
On the flip side maybe Metra should build their own right of way?? Oh, that’s right, they were FORCED onto the railroads and don’t pay their fair share of costs.
What does Metra believe should be done with all the freight in and out of Chicago? It is simplistic for Metra to simply say “hold the freight trains” but many other businesses and communities far from Chicago are affected. Perhaps more tracks are needed for Metra.
Sounds like csx
All railroads make there money from freight trains, not passenger service. The STB needs to step in and tell the railroads that there Class I and Class II. Which means who should go first. Ever since the C&N took over The EJ&E, there has been nothing but delays will METRA.
Since METRA has paid for the upgrades on the Union Pacific’s three mainly-freight handling lines that also hosts their commuter trains, I believe METRA could quite easily go to court and prove a pattern of UP’s ignoring of the commuter schedules in the running of their freight operations. The former C&NW had clearly defined ‘freight curfews’ that covered both morning and evening commute times - one of the first things that went out the window when the Mother Ship from Omaha landed was that understanding. Under UP, freight is king - altho all the improvements - including the new signal systems and many new crossovers that allow for smoother movements - were paid for by the taxpayers at METRA’s behest.
All forms of transportation in the greater Chicagoland area experienced delays and cancellations during the severe weather last January, not just Metra’s commuter trains. Metra has an excellent working relationship with both BNSF and UP, and they collectively are all working to correct the deficiencies and shortcomings that caused the delayed trains last winter. It is premature to be calling for filing law suits.
Out here in San Francisco the joint power board bought the tracks from Southern Pacific many years ago. Now I only hear the fright running at night, is very rare to see fright in daylight hours. Maybe they should think about buying the tracks a small bit at a time so they can have control over them. If you own you control it so BNSF and UP can not push them aside as far scheduling goes. Caltrains runs the show here on these tracks as I see it.
These incentives/agreements should have been forged many years ago.
The UP mainline is their bread and butter out of Chicago. Why would they shoot themselves in the foot and unload that? Same for the BNSF. the Caltrain mainline sees only locals and possibly a road job to take the freight to San Jose, not 60 freights a day or so like here. When UP put in a section of third main last year east of Elmhurst all it did was basically become another place to park a train. We call it a new center siding. And at night, after the rush, sometimes there are trains parked on two of the track.
As a retired engineer off the BNSF with both engineer and conductor seniority I can personally remember only one time that we were delayed due to freight train interference and that was on a Saturday when an inattentive dispatcher routed a switching move in Cicero Yard onto MT3 as opposed to the correct MT 4 or MT5. This epic fail resulted in the shove of a double stack into the BRC main line crossing the BNSF at Cicero East. Our dispatchers were obsessvie/compulsive about keeping freight trains off the “Racetrack” during the “dinkie parades”. I can’t begin to tell you how many times we outlawed while being held at Big Rock or at Eola or some other forsaken hamlet so that we wouldn’t interfere with the commuter schedule. Similar treatment was afforded AMTRAK trains and I spent a good deal of idle time in a siding waiting on AMTRAK trains. Sorry, but I dont buy the opinion that BNSF is part of the problem v. the solution.