Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

671 A.2d 248
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 4, 1995
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 671 A.2d 248 (Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 671 A.2d 248 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

SMITH, Judge.

Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) petitions for review of an order of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) directing rehabilitation of a bridge over railroad tracks and allocating costs. Conrail asserts that, when the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) owns property carrying its tracks beneath a highway but is exempt under a federal statute from the imposition of costs to maintain the crossing, Amtrak’s share of costs should be ascertained by the PUC and then be allocated to governmental entities benefitting from the passenger rail service.

A small, one-lane bridge rebuilt in 1920 carries Burd Street in the Borough of Royal-ton (Royalton) over three tracks owned by Amtrak. Amtrak operates 109 trains per week on two of the tracks. Conrail has a perpetual easement to use a portion of Amtrak’s right-of-way with one track, whose rails and ties it owns; it operates six trains per day on this track and a few by agreement on the other two. Conrail has agreed to pay Amtrak a pro rata share of any Amtrak expenditures for repair and maintenance. Neither Amtrak nor Conrail has a [250]*250stop in Royalton. Burd Street separates the two wards in Royalton; the bridge in question is the main and fastest route between them for emergency vehicles.

The bridge is in poor condition. Royalton filed a complaint concerning it with the PUC in 1979. In 1981 the PUC ordered Amtrak to inspect the bridge and submit a report and to perform emergency repairs and maintain the bridge pending further order. Amtrak has made no payments for maintenance since 1982; Conrail was not previously assigned any maintenance responsibilities. Dauphin County, in which Royalton is located, has spent no money on repair and maintenance, although it coordinated inspections in 1991 and 1993 and was reimbursed 80%. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT) has not paid for repairs since 1981. The bridge is listed on the third phase of DOT’s 12-year plan for replacement, which would cost a little over $1 million. In 1990 Royalton petitioned for enforcement of the PUC’s 1981 order beyond the simple filing of the report.

In 1992, following consideration of the question at the direction of the PUC, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a recommended decision concluding that, under National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 848 F.2d 436 (3d Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 893, 109 S.Ct. 231, 102 L.Ed.2d 220 (1988) (Amtrak I), interpreting former 45 U.S.C. § 546b,1 Amtrak could not be assessed any costs for repair or maintenance of the bridge after September 30, 1981; therefore the PUC’s 1981 order could not be enforced against Amtrak. The PUC adopted that decision and directed that the docket remain open for receipt of further evidence and the issuance of a further recommended decision.

Following a hearing, the ALJ recommended rehabilitation of the bridge, at a cost of $287,000, over replacement at the present time. The ALJ directed that DOT be responsible for performing the work and allocated the costs 90 percent to DOT, 7.5 percent to Conrail and 2.5 percent to Royalton. On exceptions, the PUC modified the ALJ’s order by making Royalton responsible for performing the work and by allocating the costs 80 percent to DOT, 10 percent to Conrail and 10 percent to Royalton. The PUC’s order further clarified the ALJ’s decision by holding that it made Conrail responsible for 25 percent of ongoing maintenance costs. Conrail has petitioned for review.2

The PUC has authority to allocate costs of maintenance of rail-highway crossings pursuant to Section 2704(a) of the Public Utility Code (Code), 66 Pa.C.S. § 2704(a). D & H Corp. v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 149 Pa.Cmwlth. 507, 613 A.2d 622 (1992), appeal denied, 534 Pa. 642, 626 A2d 1160 (1993). In apportioning such costs, the PUC is not limited to any fixed rate but takes all relevant factors into consideration; the fundamental requirement is that the PUC’s order be just and reasonable. Id.

The federal statutory exemption currently provides;

Amtrak or a rail carrier subsidiary of Amtrak is exempt from a tax or fee imposed by a State, a political subdivision of a State, or a local taxing authority and levied on it after September 30, 1981. However, Amtrak is not exempt under this subsection from a tax or fee that it was required to pay as of September 10, 1982.

49 U.S.C. § 24301(Z )(1). As Conrail notes, in Amtrak I the Third Circuit Court of Appeals examined the history of the creation and sustaining of Amtrak by Congress. In a report to Congress in 1980 the Secretary of Transportation concluded that state and local taxes on a primarily federal investment in [251]*251Amtrak were inappropriate; the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a report in connection with the bill that became the original one-year exemption, “disapproved the process through which federal subsidies were used to provide tax windfalls to states and localities.” Amtrak I, 848 F.2d at 438.

The court in Amtrak I examined the legislative history of former Section 546b and found an intent that assessments which otherwise would have fallen to Amtrak be borne by state and local governments as the cost of continued rail passenger service in or near their communities, on the rationale that when local jurisdictions are demanding that nationwide rail passenger service be maintained, it is reasonable to require those areas receiving the service to contribute to Amtrak’s continued existence through tax relief. The Court of Appeals concluded: “That intention is clear — to impose a passenger rail ‘user fee’ on state and local governments. It would be manifestly inconsistent with that design to make Amtrak pay for related local improvements in the many instances where the states could, and would, impose them.” Id, at 440. Conrail contends that both the legislative history and the cases interpreting former Section 546b show that Congress intended to impose Amtrak’s tax exemption upon governmental entities, not upon a private company operating on Amtrak’s lines pursuant to an easement.

Further, Conrail asserts that if no exemption applied Amtrak normally might have been expected to bear no more than 10 percent of the costs of rehabilitation, and Conrail would pay one-third of that amount under their contract. Conrail argues that it should be covered by Amtrak’s exemption; however, even if it is not, Conrail believes that it should not be charged more than it would be otherwise because Amtrak is exempt. Although recognizing the PUC’s broad power to allocate costs such as these, Conrail asserts that the PUC should not be permitted to shift responsibility for these “user fees” for the benefit of continued passenger rail service from the state and local governments benefitting from such service onto Conrail.

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671 A.2d 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/consolidated-rail-corp-v-pennsylvania-public-utility-commission-pacommwct-1995.