Interstate Commerce Commission, Appellant-Appellee v. Chicago and North Western Transportation Company and Larry S. Provo, Appellees-Appellants

WEBSTER, Circuit Judge.

The Interstate Commerce Commission instituted this action pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 1(20) seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief against the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company (North Western) and its president, Larry S. Provo. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1337, 1345. Specifically, the Commission seeks to restrain North Western from an allegedly unlawful abandonment of a thirty-mile branch line of railroad in central Iowa and to require North Western to repair and operate the line.

The branch line at issue extends from Railway Milepost 239.6 at Minerva…