Opinion ID: 471276
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicability of Section 402(a)

Text: 14 Petitioners make three arguments to the effect that section 402(a) is inapplicable to them: (1) They are not railroads or regional transportation agencies within the meaning of RPSA; (2) section 402(a) applies only to carriers that have avoided their passenger service obligations under section 401, i.e., sections 401 and 402(a) are interdependent; and (3) section 402(a) was superseded by NRSA's addition of section 504(f) to RPSA. Each of these contentions is untenable. 15 Section 103(15) of RPSA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 502(15), defines a regional transportation agency as an authority, corporation, or other entity established for the purpose of providing passenger service within a region. MTA surely falls within that definition. Indeed, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 502(8) specifically includes MTA on a list of [s]tate, local, or regional authorit[ies] established for the purpose of providing commuter service. Moreover, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 502(9) defines commuter service as short-haul passenger service. Metro-North is also a railroad or rail carrier as those terms are defined in 45 U.S.C. Sec. 502(14), since it provides railroad service for compensation. It is immaterial to Metro-North's status as a railroad that the Harlem-Hudson Lease is held by MTA and not by Metro-North; both owner and operator are carriers. See Conrail Abandonment in Jeannette, Pa., 366 I.C.C. 384, 387 (1982). 16 The argument that sections 401 and 402(a) are interdependent and that section 402(a) applies only to carriers that terminated service pursuant to section 401 is similarly lacking in merit. The two sections function separately and serve different purposes. Section 401 applies only to railroads, while section 402(a) covers both railroads and regional transportation authorities. Congress did not limit Amtrak applications to the ICC under section 402(a) to those involving railroads that have used section 401, as it easily could have done had it wished to do so. Section 401 provides relief for railroads; section 402(a) assures that Amtrak has available necessary facilities to carry out the purposes of RPSA. 3 17 We also reject the argument that the transfer of rail trackage rights to Amtrak in the 3R Act, the FSP, and the 4R Act demonstrates a congressional belief that the MTA lines did not fall within the coverage of section 402(a). MTA specifically claims that when Congress adopted the 3R Act in 1973 it decided to protect the Harlem-Hudson Lease by having Conrail assume it, section 303(b)(2), 45 U.S.C. Sec. 743(b)(2); that the USRA implemented this decision in the FSP by requiring Conrail to assume the contract; and that the USRA also implemented that decision by designating for transfer to Conrail Penn Central's free trackage rights for long-haul passenger service and freight service. MTA also notes that before the 3R Act's April 1, 1976, conveyance date Congress amended section 206(c)(1)(D) of that act by passing section 607(j) of the 4R Act to permit Congress to pipe through to Amtrak the reserved free trackage rights for long-haul passenger service over the Harlem-Hudson Line and into GCT. See 45 U.S.C. Sec. 716(c)(1)(D) (relevant section as amended). MTA's argument is that, if Amtrak could assert rights under section 402(a) over the property of all rail carriers, then Congress would not have taken these various steps. We think, however, that the USRA and Congress were more concerned with the task of redesigning the freight rail system in the Northeast and implementing the FSP by conveyance of thousands of miles of rail line and related facilities from Penn Central and other bankrupt rail systems to Conrail rather than with the precise relationship of section 402(a) to the designation of trackage rights on the Harlem-Hudson Line and Amtrak's role in respect thereto. Section 402(a) permits, as the Commission pointed out, only a piecemeal approach; the 3R Act, the FSP, and the 4R Act represented an effort to resolve a crisis in rail transportation in the Northeast Corridor through major restructuring. Congress neither amended nor repealed section 402(a) after the restructuring accomplished by the 3R Act, the FSP, and the 4R Act, and the section continues to play a necessary role in facilitating Amtrak's operations. 18 The petitioners make a complex argument in respect to section 1137 of NRSA, which added section 504(f) to RPSA, 45 U.S.C. Sec. 584(f). That subsection is set forth in the margin. 4 MTA claims that section 504(f) inescapably refers only to the financial support arrangements pertaining to the Harlem-Hudson and New Haven Lines and that it indicates that Congress intended Amtrak and Conrail to have and enjoy a trackage right not limited in time over MTA leaseholds included in those arrangements. MTA maintains that an [e]qually inescapable conclusion is that for these easements MTA was to be paid just and reasonable compensation, not limited to reimbursement of its incremental costs, and that the Commission was to play no part in determining the amount of the compensation, cf. Lehigh & New England Railway Co. v. ICC, 540 F.2d 71, 78 (3d Cir.1976) (Commission's regulatory jurisdiction statutory only), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1061, 97 S.Ct. 784, 50 L.Ed.2d 776 (1977). MTA contends that Congress would not have created a trackage right in 1981 for Amtrak's benefit over the Harlem-Hudson Line into GCT if MTA's facilities were already subject to Amtrak's demands for service under section 402(a) of RPSA. The Commission rejected this argument, holding that section 504(f) was intended to come into play only if MTA hired Amtrak Commuter to take over the Harlem-Hudson Commuter Service in place of Conrail, and that since MTA had chosen to create Metro-North to perform that function the subsection was inapplicable. When it refused to enjoin the ICC proceedings, the Special Court implicitly rejected MTA's position that because section 504(f) was controlling the Special Court had exclusive jurisdiction. Section 504(f) was discussed in depth in Judge Friendly's opinion for the Special Court in Conrail II: 19 What Congress desired to make clear was that its freeing of Amtrak Commuter from the obligations of the ... Harlem-Hudson Agreement[ ], to which Conrail had been made subject by [the 3R Act], should not deprive Amtrak and Conrail of trackage rights needed for the operation of their respective passenger and freight services. The direction, Compensation for such trackage rights shall be just and reasonable, should be read as applying only when compensation is due; if a person is legally entitled to use something free, requiring him to pay any compensation is not just and reasonable. 20 598 F.Supp. at 1582. The Special Court then went on to conclude that section 504(f) did not impose a statutory obligation on Conrail and Amtrak to pay for what the ... Harlem-Hudson Agreement[ ] entitled them to retain free. Id. at 1582-83. 21 Nevertheless, petitioners say that Amtrak by its own admission has no contractual rights to use the Harlem-Hudson Line or GCT, for if it had it would not have instituted this proceeding; therefore, MTA argues, section 504(f) applies to Amtrak's use of those facilities. But we agree with the Commission and with Amtrak that section 504 only comes into play if the commuter authority such as MTA contracts with Amtrak Commuter to replace the previous service rendered to it by Conrail. See 45 U.S.C. Sec. 584(a), (g) (authorizing either Amtrak Commuter or alternative commuter services). Since MTA did not enter into a contract with Amtrak Commuter, section 504 simply does not apply.