N.Y. Railroad Law § 170: Street surface railroads; general provisions

§ 170. Street surface railroads; general provisions. The provisions

of this article shall apply to every corporation which, under the

provisions thereof, or of any other law, has constructed or shall

construct or operate, or has been or shall be organized to construct or

operate, a street surface railroad, or any extension or extensions,

branch or branches thereof, for public use in the conveyance of persons

and property for compensation, upon and along any street, avenue, road,

highway, or private property, in any city, town or village, or in any

two or more civil divisions of the state, and every such corporation

must comply with the provisions of this article. Any street surface

railroad corporation, at any time proposing to extend its road or to

construct branches thereof, may, from time to time, make and file in

each of the offices in which its certificate of incorporation is filed,

a statement of the name and description of the streets, roads, avenues,

highways and private property in or upon which it is proposed to

construct, maintain or operate such extensions or branches. Upon filing

any such statement and upon complying with the conditions set forth in

section one hundred and seventy-one of this chapter, every such

corporation shall have the power and privilege to construct, extend,

operate and maintain such road, extensions or branches, upon and along

the streets, avenues, roads, highways and private property named and

described in its certificate of incorporation or in such statement.

Every such corporation, before constructing any part of its road upon or

through any private property described in its articles of association or

certificate of incorporation or statement, and before instituting any

proceeding for the acquisition of any real property, shall make a map

and profile of the route adopted by it upon or through any private

property, which map and profile shall be certified by the president and

engineer of the company, or a majority of its directors, and shall be

filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the road is to

be constructed, and all provisions of section sixteen of this chapter so

far as applicable shall apply to the route so located. If any such

street surface railroad company is unable to agree for the purchase of

any such real property, or of any right or easement therein required for

the purpose of its railroad, or if the owner thereof shall be incapable

of selling the same, or if, after diligent search and inquiry, the name

and residence of such owner cannot be ascertained, it shall have the

right to acquire title thereto in the manner and by the proceedings

provided by the eminent domain procedure law. Nothing in this section

shall be deemed to authorize a street railroad corporation whose

railroad is mainly, upon, along, above or below streets and highways to

acquire real property within a city, but nothing in this section shall

apply to or affect rapid transit railways constructed, maintained or

operated under any rapid transit act.