I.C.R.R. Co. v. Commerce Com‪.‬

On June 19, 1947, six of the railway employee brotherhoods filed a petition with the Illinois Commerce Commission praying for an order requiring the Illinois Central Railroad Company to provide and maintain adequate transportation daily, for its employees engaged in the operation of trains, between its crew-board office located near its depot in the city of Champaign, and its outlying terminal facilities northeast of said city. After a series of hearings and rehearings the Commerce Commission, on February 28, 1950, entered an order directing the railroad company to provide 24-hour transportation service for its employees by means of a motor coach, upon a 30-minute round-trip schedule between the points requested, at a one-way fare of twenty cents for each passenger. A motion for rehearing was denied and the railroad company appealed to the circuit court of Champaign County, where the order of the Commerce Commission was reversed and set aside. Pursuant to section 69 of the Public Utilities Act, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1949, chap. 111 2/3, par. 73,) the Commerce Commission has perfected an appeal to this court. Section 65 of the Public Utilities Act requires the Commerce Commission to make and render findings concerning the subject matter and facts inquired into and enter its order based thereon. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1949, chap. 111 2/3, par. 69.) Such findings of fact must be sufficiently specific to enable the courts to intelligently review the orders of the Commerce Commission, and to ascertain if the facts upon which such orders are based constitute a fair and reasonable basis for the decision of the commission. (Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. v. Commerce Com. 346 Ill. 412.) We have held in a number of cases that the purpose of a judicial review of an order of the commission is to keep it within the jurisdictional bounds prescribed by law, so as to guard against the violation of any rights guaranteed by the constitution. (Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Commerce Com, 387 Ill. 256; South Chicago Coal and Dock Co. v. Commerce Com. 365 Ill. 218.) The courts may re-examine the facts and set aside an order of the commission, if the evidence in the record shows the order to be without substantial foundation. Chicago Railway Co. v. Commerce Com. ex rel. Chicago Motor Coach Co. 336 Ill. 51; Commerce Com. ex rel. City of Bloomington v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Co. 309 Ill. 165.