MEMORANDUM L-41-262 Washington, DC June

L-41-262 ■MEMORANDUM Washington, D. C. June 2, 1941 TO Director of Retirement Claims FROM General Counsel SUBJECT Union Traction Company of Indiana (first) Union Traction Company of Indiana (second) A ruling has been requested with respect to the credita- bility toward annuities of service rendered to the above-named com panies . The first Union Traction Company of Indiana was incorporated on June 27, 1899, merging the Union Traction Company and the Muncie, Anderson and Indianapolis Railway Company for the declared purpose of combining all the interurban electric lines of the Indiana gas belt into one unified system. In May 1903, the Indianapolis Northern Traction Company was merged with the first Union Traction Company of Indiana into a second and larger Union Traction Company of Indiana. The second Union Traction Company of Indiana operated the electric railway system until June 1903, when a new corporation, the Indiana Union Traction Company, was incorporated with the object of taking over and operating the properties by lease. This lessor-lessee re lationship existed until May 1912, when the two companies merged into a third Union Traction Company of Indiana. The latter operated the lines until December 1924, when a receiver was appointed, who in turn operated the properties until July 1930, when they were purchased at public auction by the Indiana Railroad.1/ Both the Indiana Union Traction Company and the third Union Traction Company of Indiana have been held to be "carriers by rail road" and "predecessors", within the meaning of the predecessor clause 1/ Indiana Railroad1s succession to the properties is set forth in more detail in Opinion No. 1939, R.R. 2. \ I- 3v ^ - 2- Memorandum to Director of Retirement Claims in Section 1 (f) of the Railroad Retirement Act, of the Indiana Rail- j 5 road, an "employer" on August 29, 1935, Opinion No, 1939, R.R, 2, *^7 '" Indiana Union Traction Company and Union Traction Company of Indiana. Accordingly, it was there ruled that service rendered to the Indiana Union Traction Company is creditable from June 9, 1903, the date of its incorporation, to May 13, 1912, the date of the merger of the Indiana Union Traction Company and the second Union Traction Company of Indiana into the third Union Traction Company of Indiana. And service to the latter was held creditable from May 13, 1912, the date of its incorporation, to August 1, 1930, when the properties were taken over by the Indiana Railroad. The available sources of information, while not abundant, nevertheless are sufficiently fruitful to indicate that the first Union Traction Company of Indiana and the second Union Traction Com pany of Indiana also were "carriers by railroad" within the prede cessor clause in Section 1 (f) of the Act. The former had 161 miles of standard gauge, (T)-type rails of trackage and was considered to be "perhaps the most extensive interurban railway in the country".j2/ Approximately two-thirds of its coverage was interurban, operating from Muncie via Anderson to Indianapolis; from Anderson via Linwood, Alexandria, Summitville, Fairmont, Jonesboro, Gas City, and Soldiers Home to Marion; and from Alexandria to Elwood, Indiana. In addition, the company operated street railway lines in Muncie, Anderson, Elwood, Alexandria, Gas City, and Marion, totaling some 56 miles of trackage. It owned 242 cars, of which 172 were passenger, 4 were express, freight, and mail, and 64 were of the work and miscellaneous type. Of its 3,876,166 miles of car mileage in the year ending in June 1902, 3,800,342 fell into the passenger, and 75,824 into the freight, mail, and express categories ._3/ The second Union Traction Company of Indiana operated the lines from May 1903, when the company was incorpo rated, until the properties were leased to the Indiana Union Traction Company in June 1903. This merger resulted in an increase of trackage from 161 miles to 260 miles. Otherwise, the general characteristics and the nature of the services rendered remain substantially the same. 2/ Special Reports of the U. S. Census Office, Street and Electric Railways, 1902, at page 103. 3/ Poor’s and Moody's manuals, 1902; Commercial and Financial Chronicle, Street Railway Supplement, 1900 to 1903; and Special Reports of the U. S. Census Office, Street and Electric Railways, 1902. - 3~ Memorandum to Director of Retirement Claims We have no information whether or not the railroad, during its operation by the first and second Union Traction Companies of Indiana, connected with any steam railroad or participated in joint tariffs.4/ However, it is apparent, from the information in our possession, that the companies were interurban electric railways en gaged in the transportation of freight and passengers, and were of the type of railroads which, if they were engaged in interstate commerce, would have been subject to part I of the Interstate Commerce Act. As such, they were "carriers by railroad" within the meaning of the predecessor clause in Section 1 (f) of the Act. Opinion No. 1939, R.R. 105, East Side Railway Company, Portland City and Oregon Railway 0 Company. ^,3 The first Union Traction Company of Indiana and the second Union Traction Company of Indiana, by reason of the corporate succes sions, were predecessors of the third Union Traction Company of Indiana, a predecessor in operations of the Indiana Railroad. The first Union Traction Company of Indiana and the second Union Traction Company of Indiana were, therefore, "predecessors" of the Indiana Railroad within the meaning of the predecessor clause. Opinion No. 1939, R.R. Indianapolis. New Castle and Eastern Traction Company. l>r Therefore, it is ruled that service rendered to the first Union Traction Company of Indiana is creditable toward annuities from June 27, 1899, the date of its incorporation, to May 28, 1903, the date of its merger with the Indianapolis Northern Traction Company into the second Union Traction Company of Indiana; and that service rendered to'the second Union Traction Company of Indiana is creditable from May 28, 1903, the date of its incorporation, to May 13, 1912, the date of the merger into the third Union Traction Company of Indiana. General Counsel 4/ The second Union Traction Company of Indiana filed annual reports from 1908 to 1912, as the lessor of the Indiana Union Traction Company. The first company filed no operating reports, and neither company filed tariffs, concurrences, or powers of attorney. How ever, it was not the common practice prior to 1908 for electric interurbans to file such reports or tariffs with the Interstate Commerce Commission. Opinion No. 1939, R.R. 105..

Load more