Union Pacific Railroad sued Metra Monday in an escalation of an ongoing compensation dispute between the two railroads.

Union Pacific alleges Metra owes it close to $2.3 million in the lawsuit, which it filed in federal court in Chicago.

The dispute between the two railroads — which spurred Metra to sue Union Pacific earlier this year — centers around Metra’s use of Union Pacific tracks on three busy commuter lines: the Union Pacific North, Northwest and West lines.

For decades, Metra paid UP to operate commuter rail service on those three lines. In 2019, UP started trying to wind down its operations on the commuter lines.

This spring, Metra finally took over operations on the three lines. But the railroads still can’t agree on how much Metra will pay to use the freight tracks.

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