Denver & Rio Grande Western R. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 7597
| Decision Date | 20 April 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 7597,7597 |
| Citation | 230 P.2d 557,119 Utah 573 |
| Parties | DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN R. CO. v. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.
Bryan P. Leverich, M. J. Bronson, A. U. Miner, Howard Coray, and Dan Alsup, all of Salt Lake City, for defendants.
This matter is before us on a petition of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company to review an order of the Public Service Commission of Utah, granting to the Union Pacific Railroad Company permission to construct, operate and maintain an industry track between Ninth South and Seventeenth South Streets, along Third West Street, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In this opinion the plaintiff, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, will be referred to as Rio Grande; and the defendants, Union Pacific Railroad Company and Public Service Commission of Utah, will be referred to as Union Pacific and the Commission, respectively.
For a number of years, Union Pacific has operated over trackage running north and south between Second South and Ninth South Streets along Third West Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. From about 46 Rio Grande has operated over a spur track which extended southwest from First West Street and intersected Third West Street near Fifteenth South Street. Because of expanding industrial activity in the area south of Ninth South Street, and at the request of various owners of property located in that area who wished to encourage and promote such expansion, Union Pacific proposed extending its trackage south to Seventeenth South Street. As one step in carrying out its plans, Union Pacific made application to the Salt Lake City Commission for a franchise to extend its trackage along Third West Street to Andrew Avenue, which avenue marks the boundary of the city limits. On November 1, 1949, the franchise was granted. Third West Street does not extend beyond Andrew Avenue, and it was Union Pacific's plan to continue the extension on to Seventeenth South Street by acquiring rights-of-way from the owners of the property between Andrew Avenue and Seventeenth South Street. At a point between Fifteenth and Sixteenth South Streets, Union Pacific's proposed trackage would cross the spur track belonging to Rio Grande and an interchange track over which cars are exchanged between Rio Grande and the Bamberger Railroad Company. The spur and interchange tracks are located on the right-of-way owned by Rio Grande.
Section 76-4-15, U.C.A.1943, grants the Commission the right to grant or deny one carrier permission to cross over the track of another carrier. The pertient provisions of that section are as follows:
'(2) The Commission shall have the exclusive power to determine and prescribe the manner, including the particular point of crossing, and the terms of installation, operation, maintenance, use and protection of each crossing of one railroad by another railroad or street railroad * * *.' (Emphasis added.)
To comply with the requirements of the above statute, Union Pacific on February 2, 1950, applied to the Commission for permission to construct, operate and maintain trackage over and across the intervening streets between Ninth South and Seventeenth South Streets, and for authority to extend its track over and across Rio Grande's spur track and the interchange...
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