144 F. Supp. 365 | D.D.C. | 1956
■The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company is a through trunk-line railroad operating, so far as is here pertinent, across the State of Iowa from Davenport to Council Bluffs. It owns a subsidiary, called herein “Motor Transit”, which owns operating rights and property as a motor carrier on routes paralleling or stemming from the Railroad route. The motor carrier certificates have heretofore contained limitations requiring that the motor service-be auxiliary or supplementary to the rail service, but those limitations were stayed and have never been enforced. The mo
The nub of the controversy is in two parts, .(1) whether the Commission has power to grant a certificate to a motor carrier wholly owned by a railroad without a restriction that the service shall be auxiliary or supplementary to the railroad service and-(2), if so, whether the findings of the Commission to the effect that the public convenience and necessity justified the grant in the present case were supported by evidence in the record.
Two sections of the Interstate Commerce Act, as now amended; are involved. Section 5(2) (b)
; Plaintiffs say that -the' requirement which- appears in Section 5 (2)- (b) must be read into Section 207(a) and therefore controls in the issuance of certificates where a railroad, or its subsidiary, is the applicant. The Commission says the requirement is notably omitted from the terms of Section 207 (a); that the policy, not the terms,- of the requirement applies to the issuance of certificates under 207(a). It says a policy requirement is not so -rigid as a flat requirement in terms but is flexible and permits a grant in exceptional circumstances where the Commission finds that the public interest, convenience and necessity require the grant.
We agree with the contention of the Commission in the foregoing . respect. The case concerns the issuance of a certificate.
This brings us to the second main part of the controversy. The traffic consists of intrastate traffic, rail originated traffic, and interstate “peddle” traffic.
• We think the position of the Commission is well taken on the evidence. Voluminous testimony was produced. The findings are extensive. The conclusion that the grant appears necessary in the public interest is well founded. Judgment will be rendered for the defendants.
. Formerly See. 213(a) (1), amended Aug. 2, 1949, 63 Stat. 485, 49 U.S.C.A. § 5(2) (b).
. As enacted Aug. 9, 1935, 49 Stat. 551, 49 U.S.C.A. § 307(a).
. See Interstate Commerce Comm’n v. Parker, 1945, 326 U.S. 60, 65 S.Ct. 1490, 89 L.Ed. 2051; United States v. Rock Island Co., 1951, 340 U.S. 419, 428, 431, 442, 71 S.Ct. 382, 95 L.Ed. 391;. United States v. Texas & Pac. Co., 1951, 340 U.S. 450, 71 S.Ct. 422, 95 L.Ed. 409.