United States v. City of Chicago United States v. Tennessee Public Service Commission Louisville Nashville Railroad Company v. Tennessee Public Service Commission Chicago Eastern Illinois Railroad v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 19 October 1970
• Docket Number: 396 and 410,387,Nos. 386,s. 386
• Citation: 400 U.S. 8,91 S.Ct. 18,27 L.Ed.2d 9
• Parties: UNITED STATES et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF CHICAGO et al. UNITED STATES et al., Appellants, v. TENNESSEE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al. LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellant, v. TENNESSEE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al. CHICAGO & EASTERN ILLINOIS RAILROAD et al., Appellant, v. CITY OF CHICAGO et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

400 U.S. 8

91 S.Ct. 18

27 L.Ed.2d 9

UNITED STATES et al., Appellants,

v CITY OF CHICAGO et al.

UNITED STATES et al., Appellants,

v. TENNESSEE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al.

LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellant,

v. TENNESSEE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION et al.

CHICAGO & EASTERN ILLINOIS RAILROAD et al., Appellant,

v. CITY OF CHICAGO et al.

Nos. 386, 387, 396 and 410.

Oct. 19, 1970.

Rehearings Denied Dec. 7, 1970.

See 400 U.S. 953, 91 S.Ct. 232, 233.

PER CURIAM.

These cases are a sequel to our decision in City of Chicago v. United States, 396 U.S. 162, 90 S.Ct. 309, 24 L.Ed.2d 340, last Term. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI) filed a notice under § 13a(1) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 72 Stat. 571, 49 U.S.C. § 13a(1), proposing to discontinue a pair of trains known as the 'Georgian,' operated by it between Chicago, Illinois, and Evansville, Indiana, and operated in conjunction with trains of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) between Evansville, Indiana, and Atlanta, Georgia, crossing Kentucky and Tennessee en route. Part of this litigation grows out of the ICC's approval of the C&EI's discontinuance of the Chicago-Evansville segment of the 'Georgian,' evidenced by its termination of its investigation.

The L&N also operates the 'Hummingbird' between Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The 'Hummingbird' connects with the 'Georgian' at Nashville, Tennessee, where coaches and sleepers are transferred between the two trains. Following the ICC's approval of C&EI's discontinuance, the L&N served notice of discontinuance of the 'Hummingbird'¹ which the ICC also approved.

In City of Chicago v. United States, supra, we held that ICC decisions to discontinue such an investigation were reviewable and remanded the cases back to the District Court. That court then ordered consolidation and remanded back to the ICC for further hearings, holding that the notice served by the C&EI on the Governors of Illinois and Indiana and at every station along the Chicago-Evansville run was inadequate because the people of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, and the Governors of those States were not notified. The 'Hummingbird' discontinuance was also remanded to the ICC because of its close relationship with the 'Georgian.' These appeals followed.

We note jurisdiction and reverse. Section 13a(1) provides:

'A carrier or carriers subject to this part, if their rights with respect to the discontinuance or change * * * of the operation or service of any train * * * are subject to any provision of the constitution or statutes of any State * * * shall mail to the Governor of each State in which such train * * * operated, and post in every station, depot or other facility served thereby, notice * * * of any such proposed discontinuance or change.'

This section, as we read it, required C&EI to give notice in Illinois and Indiana, the only States in which the line now in controversy has operated. No provision is made in § 13a(1) for notice to States served by connecting railroads which might be affected by a discontinuance.

The dissent finds ambiguity in the phrase 'such train' in § 13a(1). It is argued that two interpretations of 'such train' are possible: either the train of the C&EI between Chicago and Evansville or the 'Georgian' between Chicago and Atlanta. By allowing discontinuance under § 13a(1), however, the ICC must have interpreted 'such train' to refer to a train operated by one railroad only; and it was only the Chicago-Evansville discontinuance that was before it at the time. The Commission ruled that: 'Copies of the notices were duly served and posted in the manner required by section 13a(1) and our rules and regulations thereunder.'² 331 I.C.C. 447, 448. We defer on this issue to the definition of 'train' given by the administrative agency which has oversight of the problem. See, e.g. Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 16—17, 85 S.Ct. 792, 801—802, 13 L.Ed.2d 616; Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U.S. 410, 417—418, 65 S.Ct. 1215, 1218—1219, 89 L.Ed. 1700.

It is true that the C&EI and the L&N functioned in close harmony. Discontinuance of service on one line might have a substantial effect on the other. But this relationship is not unique in railroading. Congress is not unaware of the mutual interdependence of railroads. It designed a federal regulatory system that displaced a state regulatory system when the state system could defeat a carrier's attempt to discontinue a train. Hence we think it distorts § 13a(1) to treat it so as to require the giving of notice to States which had no regulatory power over the carrier.³

Accordingly, the decisions in Nos. 386 and 410 are reversed. Since Nos. 387 and 396 were remanded to the Commission solely because of their relation to Nos. 386 and 410, those decisions are also reversed. The causes are remanded to the District Court for review of any questions on the merits which may remain unresolved.

It is so ordered.

Reversed and remanded.

Mr. Justice HARLAN, with whom Mr. Justice BLACK joins, dissenting.

I think these cases do not lend themselves to summary disposition.

The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Co. and the Louisiville & Nashville Railroad Co. jointly operated a train known as the 'Georgian' which provided passenger service between Chicago, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia. At Evansville, Indiana, between the two terminal points on the 'Georgian' run, the railroad companies switched engines and train crews; passengers, however, could remain in the railroad cars and continue through to the end of the run. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois sought ICC approval of its discontinuance of the Chicago-Evansville portion of the run; notice of the proposed discontinuance proceedings was not served on the Governors and residents of the States served by the Evansville-Atlanta portion of the 'Georgian' run. After our remand in City of Chicago v. United States, 396 U.S. 162, 90 S.Ct. 309, 24 L.Ed.2d 340 (1969), the District Court held that notice of the ICC discontinuance proceedings should have been given to the Governors and residents of all the States served by the 'Georgian' run. The Court, in Nos. 386 and 410, now summarily reverses that decision, holding that § 13a(1) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 13a(1), requires that a carrier seeking to discontinue passenger service give notice only in those States having regulatory authority over the carrier.¹ The issue, in my opinion, is not one justifying summary resolution, as an examination of the Court's opinion indicates. The Court relies in the first instance on the absence of an explicit provision in § 13a(1) of the Act for notice to States served by 'connecting railroads.' However, the statutory provision in question is manifestly highly ambiguous with regard to the scope of the notice obligation in situations where two carriers, though subject to different state regulatory authorities, offer their services to the public in a manner which, from the consumer standpoint, is indistinguishable from passenger service offered by a single carrier. Section 13a(1) provides in relevant part:

'A carrier or carriers * * * if their rights with respect to the discontinuance or change, in whole or in part, of the operation or service of any train * * * operating from a point in one State to a point in any other State * * * are subject to any provision of the constitution or statutes of any State or any regulation or order of (or are the subject of any proceeding pending before) any court or an administrative or regulatory agency of any State, may, but shall not be required to, file with the Commission, and upon such filing shall mail to the Governor of each State in which such train * * * is operated, and post in every station, depot or other facility served thereby, notice at least thirty days in advance of any such proposed discontinauance or change. * * *'

Appellants in Nos. 386 and 410 argue that since § 13a(1) accords carriers a right to commence discontinuance proceedings before the ICC if their rights with respect to the operation of train service are subject to any state regulatory authority, the scope of the notice requirement should be limited by the reach of the state regulatory power giving rise, in the first instance, to the carrier's right to go before the ICC. Appellees in Nos. 386 and 410, for their part, contend that the notice...