(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Metra is taking over operations on three commuter lines, but chances are passengers won't notice a difference.
Metra is on the process of taking over operations on the three Union Pacific lines.
The trains to Elburn, McHenry, Harvard and Kenosha are staffed and operated by Union Pacific employees under a nearly 50-year-old agreement that was inherited when the UP purchased the old Chicago and Northwestern Railroad in 1995.
In 2019, Union Pacific filed a lawsuit saying it wanted to end the agreement when the most recent extension expired in 2020.
Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said the railroads have found a way to move forward. Union Pacific employees who work in commuter service are in the process of being moved over to Metra.
"We've already started bringing over some of their employees. The management employees and the mechanical and transportation departments are now Metra employees, and over the course of this year we will bring over the rest of the crews," Gillis said.
While Metra will operate and maintain the trains, Union Pacific will dispatch the trains along the lines from their dispatch center in Omaha, Nebraska.
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