Hours after the White House announced a tentative railway labor agreement had been reached and a potential freight railroad strike averted, Metra and Amtrak said they were restoring canceled trains.
Metra trains Thursday night on the BNSF and Union Pacific North, Northwest and West lines will run as scheduled, the commuter rail agency said. The trains had previously been canceled, as the BNSF and Union Pacific freight railroads that own and operate those lines said they would begin cutting back service in preparation for a potential work stoppage.
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Amtrak said it was “working to quickly restore canceled trains and reaching out to impacted customers to accommodate on first available departures.” The passengers train service had previously canceled all long-distance routes beginning Thursday and some local service beginning Thursday night, including routes between Chicago and downstate Illinois, St. Louis and cities in Michigan.
Under federal law, a freight railroad strike or lockout could have begun as soon as Friday, shutting down rail lines across the country and halting shipments of food, fuel and goods. But railroad and union representatives spent 20 hours in negotiations at the Labor Department Wednesday hammering out a tentative agreement that will go to union members for a vote.
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The effects of the potential work stoppage had already begun to ripple out to passenger and commuter rail before the deal was reached. Nearly all Amtrak routes outside the Northeast U.S. run on track that is owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads, and a walkout would have disrupted passenger service.
Metra also interacts with the freight railroads. The four BNSF and Union Pacific lines are directly owned and operated by freight railroads, and any work stoppage was expected to disrupt service on those lines. Five other lines intersect with freight railroads in other ways, such as by being dispatched by the railroads.
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
