Washington Hands Railroads $2.3 Billion as Metra, Union Pacific Feud Over Fees

The US rail industry began the week with a record round of federal infrastructure grants, while a long-running fight over Chicago’s commuter lines escalated before regulators.

The Transportation Department on Monday awarded $2.3 billion to 105 projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program. The winners were chosen from 368 applications that together sought more than five times that amount.

Short lines were the biggest beneficiaries. The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association said 87 of the projects, accounting for about 82% of the money, went to its members, and called it the biggest funding commitment in its history. The awards range from track and bridge rehabilitation to trespassing prevention. The largest single grant went to a rail extension at Alaska’s Port MacKenzie.

On the passenger side, a project to extend Amtrak’s Hiawatha service west to Madison, Wisconsin, won $218 million. This is the last year the program receives extra money under the 2021 infrastructure law.

Separately, Union Pacific Corp. and Metra set out sharply different positions at the Surface Transportation Board on what the Chicago commuter agency should pay to run trains on three UP-owned lines while the regulator sets permanent terms. The board granted Metra trackage rights over the lines in September 2025, and a federal appeals court upheld that decision in August.

Metra argued that any additional bond should reflect the gap between the two sides’ contracts, which it puts at $49.1 million through February 2027.

Union Pacific wants a $618 million bond, based on the value of its lines. It is also seeking payment under the contract it imposed in July 2025, with back pay from that September. The railroad estimates Metra will ultimately owe about half that bond amount every year on top of its contract payments.