Chicago’s major rail system, Metra, provides commuters from all over Chicagoland with easy access to the city. Now, Metra may have found a way to avoid major fuel costs.

The rail line could save an estimated $50 million in diesel. The savings could mean more money spent on infrastructure and keeping the rail system in good condition.

Metra set a record and provided riders with 86.8 million trips in 2008, said Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis. Metra expects ridership to remain high, and more rides means more money spent on fuel.

When major rail lines budget how much money they will spend on fuel, they can either lock in on an annual price or buy the fuel as it is priced throughout the year. In 2009, Metra decided not to lock in on a price and take a chance while fuel prices remained low.

“We looked into locking in prices like the Chicago Transit Authority did, but we thought the prices quoted were too high, so we took a chance that we could save more money going with spot purchases,” Gillis said.

The CTA decided to lock in on fuel prices for 2009 at a price that is much higher than fuel has been costing Metra. Kevin O’Neil, the publisher of the blog CTA Tattler, said he believes the CTA just had to make a choice and, unfortunately, the choice they made is costing a lot of money.

“[The CTA] took a gamble, and they lost [on] that gamble,” O’Neil said. “They made the choice they thought would work best for their budget.”

When Metra officials were given 2009’s fuel cost estimates, they thought they were too high so they refused to take the offer. In 2008, Metra officials estimated too low, and they suffered a budget deficit of $7 million, Gillis said. He said there is no way to know if Metra will save or lose money on fuel, but so far this year, it has saved more than expected.

“It is a risk to do this because we don’t know what is going to happen,” Gillis said. “We budgeted $3.60 per gallon for 2009 and so far have paid about $1.18 per gallon.”

Gillis also said the $50 million estimate was for fuel costs that averaged $2 per gallon. So if the numbers stay this low all year, the savings could be even more.

Meg Reile, a spokesperson for Metra, said saving money was not the only reason Metra officials decided not to lock in on prices. She said economic troubles of today are causing many fuel companies to avoid long-term contracts because the market is unstable.

“It is not in the market’s interest to secure a long-term relationship with us,” Reile said.

Metra uses 480,000 gallons of their diesel fuel each week to operate 11 lines, Reile said. She said Metra is very fortunate to have saved so much money this year because the rail system was over budget last year.

“Last year at this time, prices were more than $3 per gallon and only went higher,” Reile said. “Right now, for the first [three] months of the year, we’re doing much better than we planned.”

Metra’s entire operating budget for 2009 is $641.7 million. This budget pays for running the trains and keeping the system rolling, but there is another budget, the capital budget, that is used to pay for improvements to damaged rail lines and to replace old trains, Gillis said.

Gillis said that while there are two different budgets for Metra, their capital budget is not very high due to lack of state funds.

“The Illinois state government hasn’t had a public works project in about five years,” Gillis said.

Reile agrees there is not enough financial support from the state’s government officials. There is some need for more trains, but funding is required. Metra officials hope the extra fuel savings could provide money for some infrastructure repairs that the state government has not helped with.

“Right now, we are pretty much running at [train] capacity,” Reile said. “We haven’t had a significant source of state or local funding. If we were able to take the [fuel savings] and spend it, it would be on preventative maintenance and our equipment.”