City of Council Bluffs v. Illinois Central Railroad
City of Council Bluffs v. Illinois Central Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Avenue A, in the city of Council Bluffs, runs east and west, and Eighteenth street is a north and south street crossing Avenue A. The railway tracks of the appellants run north and south on Eighteenth street crossing Avenue A. The main line of the Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway between Council Bluffs and Omaha is a double-tracked road running on Avenue A, and crosses appellants’ track at Eighteenth street. The appellants maintain switch tracks both north and south of Avenue A and near thereto. The street railway has a large passenger business between Council Bluffs and Omaha, and runs its cars over the crossing in question, in its ordinary operation, from 4:27 a. m. until 2 a. m., and at the time of the trial it was operating a nine-minute schedule with double service during rush hours in the morning and evening. In the regular service, aside from extras, there were about two hundred and
I. On the 10th day of February, 1908, the city passed an ordinance that was entitled as follows,: “An ordinance amending an Ordinance No. 376, to compel railroad companies to erect, construct, maintain and operate suitable gates upon certain public streets at railroad crossings and providing regulations therefor, and repealing ordinances in conflict therewith.” This last ordinance required railroad companies owning or operating tracks “at the intersection of Avenue A on 18th street points to at once erect, construct and maintain, without expense to the city, on both sides of such tracks and right of way where the same cross and intersect said stréets, suitable gates operated by hand, or other power, to protect and warn the traveling public by closing same during the passage of trains or, when the ears, engines or trains are about to pass upon and over said streets, and crossings.” This ordinance provided that it should be in force and effect from and after its passage, approval, and publication, and it also required a copy of the same to be served upon each of the companies owning or operating the said railways crossing said streets. This ordinance repealed Ordi
II. Appellants further contend that the ordinance is void because inconsistent with the state statute regulating the method of crossing at intersections of steam and interurban electric railways. It is very doubtful whether this line of street railway, extending only from Council Bluffs to Omaha, Neb., and exclusively within the corporate limits of both cities, is an interurban railway within the meaning of Code Supplement, sections 2033a, 2033b. But, however that may be, we are confident that there is no conflict between the ordi
III. The appellants’ claim that the ordinance is void because it discriminates in favor of natural persons and against corporations is hypercritical in the extreme. There is not a shadow of merit in the position so far as this case is concerned, because the ordinance requires the establishment of a gate at this particular point, and this would compel either a corporation or an individual operating a railroad over the crossing to maintain such gates.
IY. It is said that the language of the ordinance requires gates to be maintained by the interurban railway equally with the steam railroad at the same intersection. If it be conceded for the purpose of argument that the street railway is properly an interurban road, the appellants need not be concerned with the requirements of the ordinance beyond its own affairs. If it was the intention of the city
Y. The ordinance does not require a watchman, as distinguished from an operator of the gates, and is clearly within the power of the city.
YI. It is further contended that the ordinance is void because “it embraces more than one subject and distinct matters not covered by the title. ’ ’ There is nothing in the point. An examination of the title thereto, in connection with the tile to Ordinance No. 376, leaves no room for doubt on this subject, and everything enacted in the ordinance is distinctly referred to in the title. The ordinance in question was in form in accordance with section 681 of the Code, which provides that “no ordinance or section thereof shall be revised or amended unless the new ordinance contain the entire ordinance or section revised or amended, and the former ordinance or section shall be repealed.”
VII. Mandamus is the proper remedy here. Swinney v. C., R. & P. Ry. Co., 123 Iowa, 219.
One or two other complaints are made by appellants, but they are not of sufficient moment to require specific mention.
The judgment is Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- City of Council Bluffs v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company
- Status
- Published