Interstate Commerce Commission Locomotive Inspection Reports

The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), a former independent agency of the U.S. Government, was established in 1887 and charged with regulating the economics and services of specified carriers engaged in transportation between states. Surface transportation under the ICC's jurisdiction included railroads, trucking companies, bus lines, freight forwarders, water carriers, oil pipelines, transportation brokers and express agencies. The first regulatory commission in US history, the ICC was established as a result of mounting public indignation against railroad malpractices and abuses. The ICC's effectiveness was at first limited by the failure of Congress to give it enforcement power, by the Supreme Court's interpretation of its powers and by the vague language of its enabling act. However, beginning with the Hepburn Act (1906), the ICC's jurisdiction was gradually extended beyond railroads to all common carriers except aircraft by 1940. Its enforcement powers to set rates were also progressively extended, through statute and broadened Supreme Court interpretations of the commerce clause of the Constitution, as were its investigative authority for determining fair rates of return on which to base rates. In addition, the ICC was given the task of consolidating railroad systems and managing labor disputes in interstate transport. In the 1950s and 1960s the ICC enforced Supreme Court rulings that required the desegregation of passenger terminal facilities. Beginning in the 1960s the ICC's functions were progressively reduced as government control of surface transportation was deregulated. The agency was terminated at the end of 1995 and many of its remaining functions were transferred to the new National Surface Transportation Board. Source The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001.