Lehigh Valley R. Co. v. Board of Public Utility Com'rs of New Jersey

• Decision Date: 28 June 1927
• Citation: 33 F.2d 780
• Parties: LEHIGH VALLEY R. CO. v. BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITY COM'RS OF NEW JERSEY et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

33 F.2d 780 (1927)

LEHIGH VALLEY R. CO. v. BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITY COM'RS OF NEW JERSEY et al.

District Court, D. New Jersey.

June 28, 1927.

Hobart & Minard, of Newark, N. J., for plaintiff.

John O. Bigelow, of Newark, N. J., John W. Queen, of Jersey City, N. J., and Clarence E. Case, of Somerville, N. J., for defendants.

Before DAVIS, Circuit Judge, and BODINE and RUNYON, District Judges.

BODINE, District Judge.

This is an application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the public utility commissioners of New Jersey from carrying into effect an order made April 26, 1927, directing the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company to eliminate a grade crossing on State Highway No. 16 at a place in the township of Hillsboro, Somerset county, where the highway now crosses the four-track roadbed of the railroad company. The railroad company does not contend that the public unility commissioners had no right to order the elimination of this crossing (conceding that it is a highly dangerous one), but the contention is that the plan adopted for the elimination is unreasonable, and that the board should have ordered the elimination according to the proposed plan of the railroad company.

"The State, in the exercise of its police power, directly or through an authorized commission, may require railroad carriers to provide reasonably adequate and suitable facilities for the convenience of the communities served by them. But its power to regulate is not unlimited. It may not unnecessarily or arbitrarily trammel or interfere with the operation and conduct of railroad properties and business. Mississippi Railroad Commission v. Mobile & Ohio R. R. Co., 244 U. S. 388, 390, 391 37 S. Ct. 602, 61 L. Ed. 1216. The validity of regulatory measures may be challenged on the ground that they transgress the Constitution; and thereupon it becomes the duty of the court, in the light of the facts in the case, to determine whether the regulation is reasonable and valid or essentially unreasonable, arbitrary and void." Norfolk & W. R. Co. v. Public Service Commission, 265 U. S. 70, 74, 44 S. Ct. 439, 440 (68 L. Ed. 904).

The court in determining what is reasonable does not substitute its own judgment for the determination of the commission, but does consider all the factors in the case. New York v. Public Service Commission, 269 U. S. 244, 46 S. Ct. 83, 70 L. Ed. 255.

The plan of the railroad company calls for locating a new highway to the east of the present highway in a bow shape joining the present highway at a point a thousand feet distant in either direction from the existing line of the railroad. The bow would have three distinct curves, the greatest curve being 6 per cent. The plan of both parties calls for the closing of what is known as the Camp Lane Crossing, an unnecessary crossing in the vicinity, and extending this by-road up to the proposed new crossing. The public utility commissioners' plan requires the expenditure of possibly $175,000 more than called for by the railroad plan. If, however, the cost of acquiring additional lands is taken into account, this amount would undoubtedly be considerably reduced, as found by the commission and Justice Parker.

The board's plan maintains the existing highway, in its existing straight course, a course followed for more than a century. A somewhat greater amount of support for the railroad is required, in that the railroad and the highway run obliquely to one another. The railroad's plan, by the incorporation of the three curves, provides for the undercut at something more nearly approaching a right angle, thereby lessening the cost for support of the roadbed.

The highway in question is an increasingly important artery of travel in this state. The railroad crosses the highway on an embankment eight feet higher than the general level of the highway. Automobiles passing the railroad track are obliged to ascend this embankment and cross the railroad at grade. The count shows that thousands of automobiles now daily pass. The railroad's plan provides for inserting in the highway three curves contrary to the declared intention of the Legislature to eliminate curves, and...