Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Roberts,

With the advent of mechanical devices for controlling the movement of more than one train on a single track, many railroads in Pennsylvania have abandoned the old system of flagging, whereby a man was dispatched to the rear of a halted train to place flares and wave flags, thus insuring against rear end collisions. The abandoning of the flaggers forms the basis of this controversy.

On July 22, 1964, a union filed a complaint before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission against the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie R. R. Co., alleging that the railroad had amended its…