National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. Boston & Maine Corp., 503 U.S. 407, 8 (1992)

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  Next

414

NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION v. BOSTON & MAINE CORP.

Opinion of the Court

so had no obligation to seek trackage rights under subsection (a) before invoking subsection (d). Id., at 115a-116a. Meanwhile, CV and the States of Vermont and Massachusetts, as well as numerous other parties, intervened in the ICC proceeding. (CV appears as a petitioner before this Court, and Vermont and Massachusetts support petitioners.)

This was the first decided case involving Amtrak's condemnation powers under § 562(d). Id., at 39a. The ICC issued its final decision in 1988 and ordered conveyance of the segment with just compensation of $2,373,286. It reaffirmed earlier rulings and found that Amtrak "ha[d] met the statutory criteria for the institution of a proceeding" under § 562(d). Id., at 40a-42a, 81a.

The ICC concluded that the presumption of Amtrak's need for the track contained in § 562(d)(1) was applicable. In its view both statutory criteria must be met to rebut the presumption, and B&M had established neither. As to alternative property (subsection (B)), the ICC found that no reasonable alternative route existed for the Montrealer service. And as to significant impairment of B&M's ability to carry out its common carrier obligations (subsection (A)), the ICC found that because B&M had been awarded just compensation and could continue to serve its customers under the "trackage rights" agreement which was part of the transaction, its ability had not been impaired. Id., at 45a-46a. The bulk of the ICC's final decision deals with the question of just compensation, which is not before this Court. See infra, at 424.

On petition for review, a divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the petition and remanded the matter to the ICC for further proceedings. 286 U. S. App. D. C. 1, 911 F. 2d 743 (1990). The majority held that § 562(d) does not permit Amtrak to condemn railroad property which it intends to reconvey to another railroad. It acknowledged that the ICC had inter-

Page:   Index   Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007