.. SEC. 2. In order to foster and protect interstate commerce in relation to railroad transportation by preventing and relieving obstructions and burdens thereon resulting from the present acute economic emergency, and in order to safeguard and maintain an adequate national system of transportation, there is hereby created the office of Federal Coordinator of Transportation, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or be designated by the President from the membership of the Commission. If so designated, the Coordinator shall be relieved from other duties as Commissioner during his term of service to such extent as the President may direct; except that the coordinator shall not sit as a member of the Commission in any proceedings for the review or suspension of any order issued by him as Coordinator....

SEC. 3. The Coordinator shall divide the lines of the carriers into three groups, to wit, an eastern group, a southern group, and a western group, and may from time to time make such changes or subdivisions in such groups as he may deem to be necessary or desirable. At the earliest practicable date . .. three regional coordinating committees shall be created, one for each group, and each committee shall consist of five regular members and two special members. The carriers in each group, acting each through its board of directors . .. shall select the regular members of the committee representing that group, and shall prescribe the rules under which such committee shall operate- but no railroad system shall have more than one representative on any such committee. In such selection each carrier shall have a vote in proportion to its mileage lying within the group. The two special members of each committee shall be selected in such manner as the Coordinator may approve, one to represent the steam railroads within the group which had in 1932 railway operating revenues of less than $1,000,000 and the other to represent electric railways within the group not owned by a steam railroad or operated as a part of a general steam railroad system of transportation .

SEC. 4. The purposes of this title are (1) to j encourage and promote or require action on the part of the carriers and of subsidiaries subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, which will (a) avoid unnecessary duplication of services and facilities of whatsoever nature and permit the joint use of terminals and trackage incident thereto or requisite to such joint use: Provided, That no routes now existing shall be eliminated except with the consent of all participating lines or upon order of the Coordinator, (b) control allowances, accessorial services and the charges therefor, and other practices affecting service or operation, to the end that undue impairment of net earnings may be prevented and (c) avoid other wastes and preventable expense; (2) to promote financial reorganization of the carriers, with due regard to legal rights, so as to reduce fixed charges to the extent required by the public interest and improve carrier credit- and (3) to provide for the immediate study of other means of improving conditions surrounding transportation in all its forms and the preparation of plans therefore

SEC. 6. (a) The Coordinator shall confer freely with the committees and give them the benefit of his advice and assistance. At his request, the committees, the carriers, the subsidiaries, and the Commission shall furnish him, or his assistants and agents, such information and reports as he may desire in investigating any matter within the scope of his duties under this title; and the Coordinator, his assistants, and agents, and the Commission, shall at all times have access to all accounts, records, and memoranda of the carriers and subsidiaries....

SEC. 7. (a) A labor committee for each regional group of carriers may be selected buy those railroad labor organizations which, as representatives duly designated and authorized to act in accordance with the required nents of the Railway Labor Act, entered into the agreements of January 31, 1932, and December 21, 1932, with duly authorized representatives of the carriers, determining the wage payments of the employees of the carriers.

A similar labor committee for each regional group of carriers may be selected by such other railroad labor organizations as may be duly designated and authorized to represent employees in accordance with the requirements of the Railway Labor Act. It shall be the duty of the regional coordinating committees and the Coordinator to give reasonable notice to, and to confer with, the appropriate regional labor committee or committees upon the subject matter prior to taking ant action or issuing any order which will affect the interest of the employees, and to afford the said labor committee or committees reasonable opportunity to present views upon said contemplated action or order.

(b) the number of employees in the service of a carrier shall not be reduced by reasoned of any action taken pursuant to the authority of this title below the number as i: shown by the pay rolls of employees in service during the month of May, 1933, . .. but cot more in arty one year than per centum of said number in service during May, 1933; nor shall any employee in such service be deprived of employment such as he had during said month of May or be in a worse position with respect to his compensation for such employment, by reason of any action taken pursuant to the authority conferred by this title.

c) The Coordinator is authorized and directed to establish regional boards of adjustment whenever and wherever action taken pursuant to the authority conferred by this creates conditions that make necessary boards of adjustment to settle controversies between carriers and employees. Carriers and their employees shall have equal representation on such hoards of adjustment for settlement of such controversies, and said boards shall exercise the functions of boards of adjustment provided for by the Railway Labor Act .

(d) The Corordi nator is authoriz ed and directed to provide means for determining the amount of, and to require the carriers to make just compensation for, property losses and expenses imposed upon employees by reason of transfers of work from one locality to another in carrying out the purposes of this title ....

SEC. 10. (a) The carriers or subsidiaries subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, affected by any order of the Coordinator or Commission made pursuant to this title shall, so long as such order is in effect, be, and they are hereby, relieved from the operation of the antitrust laws.... Provided, however, That nothing herein shall be construed to repeal, amend, suspend, or modify any of the requirements of the Railway Labor Act or the duties and obligations imposed thereunder or through contracts entered into in accordance with the provisions of said Act....

SEC 13 It shall further be the duty of the Coordinator, and he is hereby authorized and directed, forthwith to investigate and consider means, not provided for in this title, of improving transportation conditions throughout the country, including cost finding in rail transportation and the ability, financial or otherwise, of the carriers to improve their properties and furnish service and charge rates which will promote the commerce and industry of the country and including, also, the stability of railroad labor employment and other improvement of railroad labor conditions and relations; and from time to time he shall submit to the Commission such recommendations calling for further legislation to these ends as he may deem necessary or desirable in the public interest. The Commission shall promptly transmit such recommendations, together with its comments thereon, to the President and to the Congress....