New York Central Railroad v. Southern Railway Co.

226 F. Supp. 463, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8212
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 5, 1964
DocketNo. 62 C 1849
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 226 F. Supp. 463 (New York Central Railroad v. Southern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New York Central Railroad v. Southern Railway Co., 226 F. Supp. 463, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8212 (N.D. Ill. 1964).

Opinion

JULIUS J. HOFFMAN, District Judge.

In this suit the plaintiff, The New York Railroad Company, seeks to have the court enjoin the defendant, Southern Railway Company, from operating over private mine trackage owned by the Peabody Coal Company, running between Southern’s Boonville, Indiana, agency station and Peabody’s Lynnville Mine, and it is also sought to have the court restrain the defendant from serving that mine.

The action arises under section 1, paragraphs 18-22, of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § l(18)-(22). The plaintiff and the defendant are both common carriers by railroad operating in interstate commerce, and as such are subject to the provisions of Part I of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. §§ 1— 27, including National Transportation Policy, 49 U.S.C., preceding § 1. The plaintiff and the defendant are duly authorized to do business as foreign corporations in Illinois, both maintaining offices within the territorial limits of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. This court thus has jurisdiction of the cause and of the parties.

THE PRINCIPAL FACTS

A portion of the plaintiff’s line of railroad known as the Tecumseh Branch extends from a point known as Buckskin Station in Gibson County, Indiana, easterly to and through a point on its railroad known as Lynnville in Warrick County, Indiana, which is approximately five miles easterly of Buckskin Station. The plaintiff constructed this branch under authority of a certificate of public convenience and necessity which it sought and obtained from the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1938. Cleveland, C., C. & St. L. Ry. Construction and Operation, 228 I.C.C. 461 (1938). In its report, the Commission found as follows:

“The primary purpose of the proposed extension is to supply car and transportation service for coal to be [465]*465mined from certain undeveloped coal lands in the so-called Dickeyville field, and particularly from a mine to be operated by the Tecumseh Coal Corporation, * * * which is now in the process of organization. * * * There is no other railroad serving the same general territory. The nearest railroad to the proposed line, other than that of the applicants, is the line of the Southern Railway extending from Evansville to Huntingburg, but it is about 7 or 8 miles distant at the nearest point.
(i •X* # "X-
“ * * * The record shows a public need for the proposed construction in that it will develop a virgin coal field not now supplied with transportation facilities, and will result in a substantial increase in the business of the New York Central without diverting any traffic now handled by another line of railroad.” 228 I.C.C. at 462-63.

Development of the coal lands in the area of the plaintiff’s Tecumseh Branch led to the opening of the Lynnville Mine, now owned by Peabody. The coal tipple of that mine is located approximately 350 feet south of plaintiff’s branch. The tipple was constructed during 1952 and commenced operation on December 7, 1952. In 1952 and 1953, the plaintiff expended $253,105.95 for capital improvements for track, communications, signals, and station facilities in the vicinity of Lynnville, for the purpose of providing rail service to the Lynnville Mine. During 1962, the plaintiff originated 25,679 carloads of bituminous coal at this mine, containing 1,570,768 tons of bituminous coal, as compared with 21,426,315 tons of bituminous coal at all mines served by the plaintiff. During 1962, the tonnage of bituminous coal transported by the plaintiff was 40.2 percent of the total tonnage of carload freight carried by the plaintiff during that year.

The defendant operates a line of railroad easterly from the City of Evansville in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, to and through a point on its railroad known as Boonville Station in Warrick County, Indiana, approximately seventeen miles east of Evansville. Southern constructed and for many years has owned and maintained a track approximately 1.4 miles long running northerly from its main line at Boonville, called Southern’s Sunlight Spur. Peabody owns and maintains a private track approximately ten miles long (hereinafter called the Peabody track) extending northerly from a connection with the old Sunlight Spur of Southern to the Lynnville Mine of Peabody. This track is located on land either owned by Peabody or over which Peabody has an easement for the track. The Peabody track, except for the last 5,150 feet at the northern end, was built at various times between 1945 and 1954. Various parties participated in the construction of the northerly 5,150 feet of track. On 2,150 feet, Peabody did the sub-grading, construction, and spreading of ties in 1955; on the other 3,000 feet, the sub-grading was done by the Olinger Construction Company in August, 1955. In September, 1958, at the request of Peabody, Southern completed the construction of the northerly 5,150 feet adjacent to the Lynnville Mine at a cost of $26,381, including the cost of material and labor. On April 8, 1963, Peabody paid to Southern $25,000, and in consideration thereof Southern gave Peabody a bill of sale for all its interest in the northerly 5,150 feet of the Peabody track. On January 10, 1959, the defendant commenced operations over the private Peabody track for the sole purpose of serving Peabody at the Lynnville Mine, and the defendant has not used the Peabody track to serve anyone except Peabody. The defendant has not applied for nor obtained certification under section 1(18) of the Interstate Commerce Act to operate over this trackage or to serve the Lynnville Mine.

THE ISSUES

The plaintiff alleges in its complaint that defendant’s operation over the private Peabody track to serve the Lynn-ville Mine is an extension of defendant’s line within the meaning of section 1(18) [466]*466of the Interstate Commerce Act, which provides that no carrier subject to the Act shall undertake the extension of its line of railroad unless it first obtains a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Interstate Commerce Commission. Section 1(20) of the Act provides that any construction, operation, or abandonment contrary to paragraph 18 may be enjoined by any court of competent jurisdiction at the suit of any party in interest. The plaintiff contends that under these provisions, the defendant should be enjoined from further operation over the Peabody track unless and until the defendant obtains proper certification from the Commission as required under paragraph 18.

The defendant denies, in its answer, that its operation from Boonville to Peabody’s Lynnville Mine is an extension of its line within the meaning of section 1(18) and asserts that no authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission is required under section 1(18) for this operation. The defendant further alleges that it operates on the Peabody track to serve only the Peabody mine, that it has no right to use the Peabody track to serve anyone else, and that it does not hold itself out by tariff or otherwise to serve the general public over this track. Therefore, the defendant insists, this operation is merely a switching operation purely incidental to the road-haul service of the defendant beyond Boonville, from which point the defendant’s tariffs for roadhaul service apply.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
226 F. Supp. 463, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-central-railroad-v-southern-railway-co-ilnd-1964.