These cases all involve the validity of a single order of the Interstate Commerce Commission establishing through railroad routes and prescribing joint through rates for carriage of certain goods over the routes. The Commission's order was made after lengthy hearings upon complaint of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company. The Rio Grande's main line runs from Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo, Utah, across much of Colorado to Denver, Pueblo, and Trinidad. The chief controversy involved in this case is between the Rio Grande and the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The Union Pacific lines which are relevant here run from points in Washington and Oregon through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, going as far east as Omaha and Kansas City. The Union Pacific and Rio Grande connect at Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo, Utah, and at Denver, Colorado. The connection at Ogden is known as the Ogden Gateway, meaning the gateway between the northwestern states served by the Union Pacific and states to the south and east served by the Rio Grande. The Union Pacific has used its strategic position in the northwest territory in such a way that practically all traffic between the Northwest, Denver and points east and south of Denver goes over its lines. For this reason the Northwest is often referred to as 'closed door' territory. This situation caused the Rio Grande to file its complaint with the Commission. It charged that the Union Pacific had agreements with other connecting railroads named defendants under which goods could be carried to and from the Northwest at joint through rates, but that the only way the Rio Grande could carry goods to and from this area was by exacting higher 'combination rates,' which are the sum of local rates. These high rates practically bar the Rio Grande as a connecting carrier for through shipments to and from the Northwest. The Rio Grande asked the Commission to order the Union Pacific to establish and maintain for the future 'just, reasonable and non-discriminatory competitive joint through rates' with the Rio Grande. It charged that the Union Pacific's failure to establish and maintain such rates violated §§ 1(4), 3, 15(1), and 15(3) of the Interstate Commerce Act. Section 15(1) authorizes the Commission to proscribe individual or joint rates or practices that are 'unjust or unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory or unduly preferential or prejudicial' and to prescribe rates and practices that are 'just, fair, and reasonable.' Section 15(3) empowers the Commission to establish through routes and joint rates whenever deemed by the Commission 'to be necessary or desirable in the public interest.' Section 15(4), which is very important in this controversy, places restrictive conditions upon the Commission's power to establish through routes under § 15(3) when the establishment of a through route would require a railroad 'without its consent, to embrace in such route substantially less than the entire length of its railroad and of any intermediate railroad operated in conjunction and under a common management or control therewith, which lies between the termini of such proposed through route * * *.' This provision is generally referred to as a prohibition against making a railroad 'short-haul' itself. Among other findings the Commission must make under § 15(4) before establishing a through route which requires a railroad to short-haul itself is that the new route 'is needed in order to provide adequate, and more efficient or more economic, transportation * * *.'
The Rio Grande's petition before the Commission alleged that through routes with the Union Pacific already existed through the Ogden Gateway. It contended that they had been created and used by the Union Pacific. On this basis Rio Grande claimed that the restrictive conditions of § 15(4) did not apply and that the Commission need not concern itself with those conditions but should proceed to establish reasonable joint rates under § 15(3). After hearing much evidence the Commission rejected this contention and found that the through routes claimed by Rio Grande did not exist. The Commission went on to find, however, that through routes should be established with reference to certain commodities such as fruits, perishable foods, and livestock in a limited geographical area. The Commission found, in accordance with § 15(4) that these new routes were needed 'to provide adequate and more economic transportation * * *.' It also found as required by § 15(3) that through routes and joint rates for the specified commodities were 'necessary and desirable in the public interest.' 287 I.C.C. 611, 659.