Interstate Commerce Commission v. New York Co

• Citation: 53 S.Ct. 106,287 U.S. 178,77 L.Ed. 248
• Decision Date: 21 November 1932
• Docket Number: No. 15,15
• Parties: INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION v. NEW YORK, N.H. & H.R. CO. et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

287 U.S. 178

53 S.Ct. 106

77 L.Ed. 248

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

v NEW YORK, N.H. & H.R. CO. et al.

No. 15.

Argued Oct. 17, 18, 1932.

Decided Nov. 21, 1932.

Messrs. Thomas M. Ross and Charles W. Needham, both of Washington, D.C. (Robert E. Freer and Mary B. Linkins, both of Washington, D.C., of counsel), for petitioner.

Messrs. John L. Hall and Charles O. Pengra, both of Boston, Mass., for respondents.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 179-183 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice CARDOZO delivered the opinion of the Court.

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and other railroad companies subject to its control, the group making up together the New York, New Haven & Hartford System, and collectively described as 'the carrier,' petitioned the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia for a writ of mandamus directed to the Interstate Commerce Commission and commanding the Commission to include the value of the carrier's interests in the tracks of the New York & Harlem Railroad Company from Woodlawn to Forty-Third street in the city of New York, in the Grand Central Terminal in that city, and in the land and buildings of the Boston Terminal Company as part of the inventory and valuation required by section 19a of the Interstate Commerce Act. 37 Stat. L. 701, c. 92, as amended, 49 U.S.C., § 19a (49 USCA § 19a). The Supreme Court of the District dismissed the petition. Its judgment was reversed by the Court of Appeals (60 App.D.C. 403, 55 F.(2d) 1028), and a writ of certiorari brings the case here (52 S.Ct. 496).

The carrier operates lines of railroad in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. Its tracks enter the state of New York at or near Portchester, and at Woodlawn connect with the tracks of the New York & Harlem Railroad Company, now operated under lease by the New York Central System. From Woodlawn south to the Grand Central Station, a distance of about twelve miles, the carrier's passenger trains run over the Harlem tracks, and the carrier and the Central use the station in common. At Boston, Mass., the carrier's tracks connect with those of the Boston Terminal Company, the owner of the South Station in Boston; and the carrier has the use of that station in common with other lines. The facts bearing upon its interest in the Harlem tracks and the Grand Central Terminal will be considered first, and afterwards those bearing upon its interest in the terminal at Boston.

On March 17, 1848, an 'agreement and contract of transportation' was entered into between the New York & Harlem Railroad Company and the New York & New Haven, a predecessor of the carrier. By this contract, the Harlem granted to the New Haven the right 'to run their trains, engines and cars for the transportation of passengers, mails, expresses, freight, etc., over the track or tracks of the road of the New York and Harlaem Railroad Company from the point of junction aforesaid to and into the city of New York.' The New Haven was to furnish its own haulage and to pay the Harlem 'as full compensation for the use and occupation of their track or tracks as aforesaid, a certain sum for each passenger transported,' and a portion of the tariff rates received for the transportation of express matter and the mails. Compensation was to be adjusted every five years by agreement, or in the event of failure to agree, by arbitration. Following the execution of this contract, and on March 29, 1948, the Legislature of New York (Laws N.Y. 1848, c. 143) passed an act to amend the charter of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company. In section 6 of that act, it confirmed the validity of the contract with the carrier's predecessor. 'The New York and New Haven Railroad Company is hereby authorized to enter upon and run their cars and engines for passengers, freights, mails, expresses and other business, over the road of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company, from the point of junction of the roads of said companies at or near William's Bridge, in the County of Westchester, to the City of New York, and as far into the said city as the said Harlem Railroad may extend, upon such terms, and to such point as has been or may hereafter be agreed upon by and between said companies, a copy of such agreement or agreements to be duly authenticated and filed in the office of the Secretary of State of this state.' Promptly upon the enactment of this statute, the New Haven connected its line with the tracks of the Harlem, and ever since that time has run its trains over them into the city of New York. The Harlem on April 1, 1872, leased its road to the New York Central for a term of 401 years, the lease reciting that it was subject to the contract between the Harlem and the New Haven.

From a statement of the facts as to the carrier's interest in the tracks south of Woodlawn we pass to a consideration of its interest in the Grand Central Terminal. An agreement described as a 'tripartite lease' was entered into on November 1, 1872, between the Harlem, the Central, and the New Haven whereby the Harlem leased to the other roads the use of certain parts of the Grand Central Depot (a building since then destroyed) and the adjacent yards. On July 24, 1907, this agreement was superseded by another tripartite lease between the same parties. The Central agreed at its sole expense to acquire the lands and make all the changes necessary for the construction of a new station, the present Grand Central Terminal. Acting for itself and the Harlem, it leased to the New Haven during the term of the New Haven's Charter (i.e., in perpetuity) the 'use, in common with the Central Company, subject to all the provisions of this agreement, of the said Railroad Terminal for the accommodation of the traffic on the New Haven Company, other than freight traffic,' with the proviso that the New Haven's right to the use of the terminal should in no event exceed 50 per cent. of the maximum capacity. As 'compensation for the premises hereby demised,' the New Haven was to pay to the Central that proportion of 4 1/4 per cent. interest on the cost of construction and of the annual expenses for maintenance and operation 'which the use of the Railroad Terminal by the New Haven Company bears to the entire use thereof.' The terminal was to be under the direction of a terminal manager appointed by the presidents of the Central and New Haven Companies and removable by either.

Next in order is a statement of the interest of the carrier in the terminal at Boston. By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature, approved June 9, 1896 (St. 1896, c. 516), the Boston Terminal Company was incorporated with power to construct and maintain a union passenger station in the southerly part of the city of Boston, and to provide and operate adequate terminal facilities for the five railroad companies entering the city and for the accommodation of the public. Section 1. These railroad companies, including the New Haven, were severally authorized to subscribe for the capital stock in equal amounts. Upon the completion of the proposed improvements, the five railroads were to use the station and its terminal facilities for all their terminal passenger business in Boston, and were to pay to the Terminal Company the amounts necessary to satisfy the expenses of the corporate administration and of the maintenance and operation of the station and other facilities, together with interest on the bonds and a dividend not to exceed 4 per cent. on the capital stock. The payments by the several roads were to be proportioned to the use, and were to be deemed to be a part of their operating expenses. At the time of the trial, the New Haven, having succeeded to the interests of some of the other roads, held in its ownership or subject to its control 80 per cent. of the Terminal stock, the remaining 20 per cent. being controlled by the Central.

With this statement of the facts as to the carrier's interests in the tracks and terminals, we reach the question whether the Commission was under a clear duty, enforce- able by mandamus, to include those interests with a specific valuation in the statutory inventory.

By section 19a of the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S. Code, § 19a, Act March 1, 1913, c. 92, 37 Stat. 401, as amended (49 USCA § 19a)), there is laid upon the Commission the colossal task of preparing an inventory and valuation of the property of the railroads of the United States.¹

Subdivision a of the section is sweeping in its extension.

'The commission shall * * * investigate, ascertain, and report the value of all the property owned or used by every common carrier subject to the provisions of this chapter.' It 'shall make an inventory which shall list the property * * * in detail, and show the value thereof as hereinafter provided, and shall classify the physical property, as nearly as practicable, in conformity with the classification of expenditures for road and equipment, as prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission.'

Subdivision b contains directions as to the method of showing values and thus fulfills the promise of subdivision a that such directions as to form will be 'hereinafter provided.'

The provisions are distributed into five classes.

Under the heading 'first,' there is a command to the Commission to 'ascertain and report in detail as to each piece of property, other than land, owned or used by said common carrier for its purposes as a common carrier, the original cost to date, the cost of reproduction new, the cost of reproduction less depreciation, and an analysis of the methods by which these several costs are obtained, and the reason for their differences, if any.'

For convenience of reference this part of the directions that are grouped under the heading 'first' will be described as number one.

Under the same heading there is, however, another part which will be identified as number two.

'The commission shall in like manner ascertain and report separately other...