Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Norfolk and Western Railway Company Calumet Harbor Terminals, Inc v. Norfolk and Western Railway Company United States v. Norfolk and Western Railway Company, s. 15

Decision Date14 November 1966
Docket Number17 and 20,Nos. 15,s. 15
Citation385 U.S. 57,87 S.Ct. 255,17 L.Ed.2d 162
PartiesILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY et al., Appellants, v. NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY et al. CALUMET HARBOR TERMINALS, INC., et al., Appellants, v. NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY et al. UNITED STATES and Interstate Commerce Commission, Appellants, v. NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY et al
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

William J. O'Brien, Jr., Chicago, Ill., and Richard A. Posner, Washington, D.C., for appellants.

Theodore E. Desch, Chicago, Ill., for appellees.

Mr. Justice CLARK delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal from the judgment of a three-judge District Court, 241 F.Supp. 974, setting aside orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 307 I.C.C. 493, 312 I.C.C. 277, 317 I.C.C. 502, which granted the applications of seven railroads1 to provide additional rail service to the Lake Calumet Harbor Port near the southern limits of Chicago, Illinois. The service was to be provided through the construction of a single line of track into the Chicago Regional Port District for the joint use of the seven railroads. At present the port is served directly by only one railroad, appellee Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company (Rock Island). Appellee New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company (Nickel Plate),2 has facilities on the east side of Lake Calumet which has been reserved for future commercial development, but at present its facilities do not reach the port. The court, with one judge dissenting, rejected as not having 'ample support' in the record, the findings of the Commission that the public convenience and necessity required the additional service applied for by the seven roads. It further found, unanimously, that the requirements of due process were violated by the Commission in its refusal to give Rock Island and Nickel Plate a hearing before approving a nonexclusive agreement, subsequently executed between the applicant roads and the Port District, covering the use of the latter's facilities. The court ordered a new hearing on all the issues, one judge concluding that such hearing should be limited to the subsequently executed nonexclusive use agreement. We noted probable jurisdiction, 382 U.S. 913, 86 S.Ct. 288, 15 L.Ed.2d 230, and reverse the judgment.

I.

BACKGROUND OF LAKE CALUMET HARBOR PORT.

Lake Calumet Harbor Port is one of seven facilities within the Port of Chicago available for the handling of waterborne freight. It is a shallow lake approximately two miles in length and covers approximately 1,250 acres. It is accessible by water from Lake Michigan via the Calumet River into the heart of the Chicago switching district, a distance of some six miles.

As early as 1880 one of the Pullman companies constructed trackage that first brought rail service to Lake Calumet. Pullman reserved some 300 to 500 acres for the development of a harbor and later donated some acreage to the United States for the development of a turning basin. Comprehensive plans for dredging Lake Calumet harbor and the filling of submerged lands were prepared in 1916 by an engineer for the City of Chicago. In 1917 Pullman waived riparian rights to some four miles of Lake Calumet shoreline to the City of Chicago and in 1935 gave additional land to the United States for the purpose of widening the Calumet River.

In 1947 the Illinois Central, an appellant here, attempted to enter the port area. Pullman and two of the seven appellants here, New York Central and the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, opposed the application which was addressed to the Illinois Commerce Commission. In 1949, during the pendency of the proceeding, Rock Island acquired the common stock and certain industrial property of Pullman for $2,200,000. Rock Island then entered the proceedings in opposition to Illinois Central. The application of the latter was approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission but the Circuit Court of Cook County rejected it and the Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed in 1953. Chicago, R.I & P.R. Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission ex rel. Illinois Central R. Co., 414 Ill. 134, 111 N.E.2d 136.

The Interstate Commerce Commission in approving the acquisition of Pullman by Rock Island—over the objections of Illinois Central and the Belt Railway Company, each of which also sought to acquire Pullman or a portion of its trackage on the lake imposed certain conditions on Rock Island designed to guarantee fair practices, assure non-discriminatory handling of the traffic of other railroads to and from the lake and guarantee the mutuality of traffic and operating relationships theretofore existing between Pullman and the other roads. Rock Island, however, continued to be the only line providing direct service to the port.

The Chicago Regional Port District was created as a municipal corporation by the State of Illinois in 1951. Its purpose was the development of Lake Calumet into a major deep water port facility for both domestic and import-export traffic via the St. Lawrence Seaway. In 1954 the Port District declared by resolution that the public's, as well as the port's, interest required that its trackage be accessible to as many railroads as possible. In 1955 the Port District acquired the lake and some adjoining property from the City of Chicago and began dredging the lake and constructing port facilities at its southern end; it also built 14 miles of railroad yard 'hold' tracks in the port, docks, two 6,500,000-bushel grain elevators, three transit sheds occupying 300,000 square feet of space, a back-up warehouse with 200,000 square feet of space, and streets. These facilities cost $24,000,000 and were paid for by the sale of Port District revenue bonds. By contract with the Port District the Rock Island operates over the trackage of the Port District and also serves the Calumet Harbor Terminals, Inc., a private harbor facility. No other railroads reach the port on their own tracks. The Nickel Plate is the nearest rail facility. As previously noted, it has trackage on the east side of the lake which has been reserved for future development by the Port District. Any railroad wishing to service the port must use the facilities of Rock Island.

II.

THE APPLICATIONS BEFORE THE COMMISSION.

On October 22, 1956, the appellants Illinois Central Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, requested authority from the Commission under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. § 1(18) to construct 1.431 miles of new track that would connect their lines to the present trackage of an affiliate of Illinois Central that passes near Lake Calumet's southwestern shore. Similar applications were subsequently filed by the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, the Michigan Central Railroad Company, the New York Central Railroad Company and the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company. All of the applicants sought to operate directly to and from the Lake Calumet port, rather than use the facilities of the Rock Island. The latter, as well as the Nickel Plate, requested and was given leave to intervene as were other parties.3 The Rock Island and Nickel Plate were the only objectors, the remaining intervenors all supporting the applications.

The original applications of the seven railroads did not specifically request authority from the Commission to operate over the Port District's tracks. It appears that appellants were under the impression that formal Commission authority was not necessary because of the fact that Rock Island was currently operating without it. Nevertheless, the applications covered the entire plan of operations proposed by appellants, including activity within the Port District as well as an unexecuted agreement covering the leasing of the Port District facilities which was attached to the application as an exhibit. This lease was before the Hearing Examiner during the 12-day joint hearing he conducted and was the subject of testimony and consideration. The appellants advised, and the Hearing Examiner concluded, that the appellants sought approval to operate within the Port District, as well as authority for the track extension. Accordingly, the Hearing Examiner recommended to the Commission that the entire project of the appellants be approved.

On October 5, 1959, the Commission adopted the Hearing Examiner's recommendations but ruled that the applicants should file supplemental applications covering their proposed operations within the Port District as provided in the proposed lease with the District. The Commission discussed the lease and indicated that it was satisfactory. It did, however, feel that the exclusive right of operation clause should be eliminated. The Commission also ruled that Rock Island's service to Calumet Harbor Terminals, Inc., was not to be disrupted and that every industry located at Lake Calumet Harbor was to have direct rail service, not only from the applicants but the Rock Island and Nickel Plate, if they so elected.

In April 1960, the appellants, pursuant to the Commission's requirement, filed supplemental applications for specific authority to operate within the Port District. The proposed lease covered by these applications eliminated the exclusionary provisions to which the Commission had objected. Despite the request of Rock Island and Nickel Plate for a hearing on the new lease the Com- mission found that the 'technical deficiency' existing in appellants' original applications had been corrected by the filing of their supplemental applications; that the record of the previous hearing was adequate to support approval of the entire proposal of the appellants; and the applications, as supplemented, were approved.

In June 1961, however, the appellants and the Port District found it necessary to amend their operating agreement and appellants filed a second supplemental application asking for approval of the same. This agreement modified...

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