Erie Railroad v. Public Service Commission

Citations

• 77 Pa. Super. 196
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 238

Syllabus

<p>Public Service Commission — Public Service Company Law — Railroad companies — Grade crossings — Abolition—Change of road by Highway Department, without intervention of Public Service Commission — Costs—Assessments of cost by Public Service Commission — Act of May SI, 1911, P. L. lj-68.</p> <p>Where the State Highway Department, under the provisions of the Act of May 31,1911, P. L. 468, changed a state highway, thereby avoiding certain grade crossings over the tracks of. a railroad company, the Public Service Commission cannot assess against that railroad Company any portion of tbe cost of relocating such, highway, upon the theory that it is apportioning the costs of eliminating a grade crossing in accordance with the provisions of the Public Service Company Law.</p> <p>The Highway Department having proceeded to relocate the highway prior to the complaint before the commission, in accordance with the powers conferred under the Act of 1911, the Public Service Commission had no jurisdiction to assess the costs for a road so relocated.</p> <p>The order of the Public Service Commission requiring the railroad company to contribute to the cost of a great state highway, because certain grade crossings are thereby eliminated, is confiscatory and will not be sustained.</p> <p>A new road laid out by the commission in the elimination of a grade crossing is not necessarily to be a state highway, nor must it be built in accordance with the plans and specifications, which have been determined as requisite for the construction of the great trunk highways of the Commonwealth. Where such a highway is contemplated the railroad company cannot be required to contribute to the expense of such an elaborate construction, and an order that required such contributions is confiscatory.</p>