High gas prices are hitting Metra commuter rail especially hard these days.

All commuter lines except for the south suburban Metra Electric use diesel-powered trains. And Metra’s currently paying 75 cents more for each gallon of diesel than expected. So the agency is $1.5-million over its gas budget each month.

PAGANO: Now, that’s based off current prices. If gas prices escalate, obviously that number would escalate.

Metra chief Phil Pagano says he may try to lock-in a long-term fuel contract - sort of an insurance policy for booming prices. Pagano says Metra’s finances would be even worse-off without a fare hike that went into effect in February.

PAGANO: It allowed us to deal with - in some fashion - the fuel increases that have occurred.

To save more cash, Metra won’t fill some open positions, and won’t expand weekend service as much as planned.