Opinion
No. 33354
Decided June 17, 1953.
Public Utilities Commission — Railroads — Abandonment of passenger train service — Public no longer makes efficient use of service — Other means of transportation available and used — Trains operated at loss — Crew wages alone exceeds gross revenue — Commission's order denying application unreasonable and unlawful.
APPEAL from the Public Utilities Commission.
Appellant, The Baltimore Ohio Railroad Company, filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio an application for authority to abandon the operation of its two passenger trains between Zanesville, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, a distance of 88.3 miles. At the hearing before an attorney examiner for the commission, five witnesses were called by the appellant in support of its application. The only other appearance was entered on behalf of the Transportation Brotherhoods of Ohio, which offered no evidence in support of its protest.
One train operates daily, except Sunday, in each direction. In general, the territory served is sparsely settled farming country, with some industry at various localities. These trains carry passengers, baggage, mail, and express. The chief reason for seeking discontinuance of the trains is that the public no longer makes efficient use of the service, due to other means of transportation.
The number of passengers carried declined approximately 68 per cent from 1946 to 1951. During the first seven months of 1951, the trains carried an average of eight passengers per trip, most of them going short distances, resulting in an out-of-pocket loss of $10,756 — an estimated loss for the year of $18,440. During July 1951, the trains averaged only 3.8 passengers per train mile. For the 7-month period in 1951, the gross revenue averaged $72 per day as compared with selected out-of-pocket expenses of $135 per day. For the same period the crew wages alone were about four times the revenue from passengers and were in excess of the gross revenue.
The appellant's trains run on the west bank of the Muskingum river throughout the trip. There is bus service on the east side of the river from Zanesville to Marietta, and bus service on both sides of the Ohio river from Marietta to Parkersburg. The Post-Office Department has supplemental star route mail service between Zanesville, Marietta and Parkersburg.
The attorney examiner recommended that the application be granted.
The Public Utilities Commission, with one member dissenting, found that the losses being sustained by appellant in the operation of the trains in question, when weighed against the welfare of the public in the area to be affected, do not appear to justify the discontinuance of the trains, and denied the application.
The cause is in this court on appeal from the order of the Public Utilities Commission.
Mr. George C. Doering and Messrs. Alexander, Ebinger Wenger, for appellant.
Mr. C. William O'Neill, attorney general, Mr. John P. Case and Mr. James M. Burtch, Jr., for appellee.
From a consideration of all the evidence offered on behalf of the application, together with the facts that no evidence was offered in opposition to the application, and that no municipality or community which would be affected by a discontinuance of passenger train service made any protest or entered an appearance, this court is of the opinion that the order of the commission is unwarranted, unreasonable and unlawful.
The order of the commission is reversed.
Order reversed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., MIDDLETON, TAFT, MATTHIAS, HART and STEWART, JJ., concur.
ZIMMERMAN, J., not participating.