Does BNSF or UP(CNW) make money from Commuter Contracts?

METRA Chicago and other citys transit agencys (New Mexico,Cal Trans) that have "Puchase of service contracts" with BNSF and UP. Is this a contination of the old subsidy system or does UP and BNSF make a small profit (5 to 15%) from staffing and running these trains?

In Chicago, I don't think either road turns a profit, but Metra (via the RTA) does subsidize their operating expenses, and covers a certain percentage of their losses, depending on the contract specifics...

They can also indirectly profit from capacity expansion projects which are subsidized by the government for commuter service, but not heavily used outside of rush hour.

I doubt if either line turns a "profit". The Purchase of Service contract determines who crews the trains (BNSF), who maintains the signals, (BNSF), who controls the dispatch (BNSF), etc. All Metra/CTA/Pace services are required to make a % farebox recovery. On a split ticket, there has always been a dispute on how much each agency gets paid. (Pace to Metra, Metra to CTA, etc.

I think a better answer to your question would be that under the purchase-of-service agreements, Metra is reimbursing the direct expenses UP and BNSF incur as a result of operating the commuter service. I would guess that any profit margin is in the form of performance incentives or a fixed markup percentage over the direct expenses. Similarly, while the equipment is all owned by Metra and "leased" back to the operating railroads, it's probably at a nominal rate of $1/year or some other thing that makes accountants and regulators happy--if the railroads had to shell out real money for a service that doesn't make much, they'd never go for it. UP is less likely to have an overall profit than BNSF, since the service from Waukegan to Kenosha is unsubsidized, as far as I know. Not sure why that arrangement persisted all these years.