N.Y. Railroad Law § 9: Certificate of convenience and necessity

§ 9. Certificate of convenience and necessity. No railroad corporation

formed after May eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, under the

laws of this state shall exercise the powers conferred by law upon such

corporations or begin the construction of its road until the directors

shall cause a copy of the original certificate of incorporation to be

published in one or more newspapers in each county in which the road is

proposed to be located, at least once a week for three successive weeks,

and shall file satisfactory proof thereof with the commissioner; nor

until the commissioner shall certify that the foregoing conditions have

been complied with, and also that public convenience and a necessity

require the construction of said railroad as proposed in said

certificate of incorporation. The foregoing certificate shall be applied

for within six months after the completion of the three weeks'

publication hereinbefore provided for. If a certificate is refused no

further proceedings shall be had before said commissioner, but the

application may be renewed after one year from the date of such refusal.

Prior to granting or refusing said certificate the commissioner shall

have a right to permit errors, omissions or defects to be supplied and

corrected. After a refusal to grant such certificate the commissioner

shall certify a copy of all maps and papers on file in its office and of

the findings of the commissioner when so requested by the directors

aforesaid. Such directors may thereupon present the same to the

appellate division of the supreme court of the department within which

said road is proposed in whole or in part to be constructed, and said

appellate division shall have power, in its discretion, to order said

commissioner, for reasons stated, to issue said certificate, and it

shall be issued accordingly. Such certificate shall be filed in the

office of the department of state, and a copy thereof, certified to be a

copy by the secretary of state, or his deputy, shall be evidence of the

fact therein stated. Nothing in this section shall prevent any such

railroad corporation from causing such examinations and surveys for its

proposed railroad to be made as may be necessary to the selection of the

most advantageous route; and for such purpose by its officers or agents

and servants, entering upon the lands or water of any person, but

subject to the responsibility for all damages which shall be done

thereto. The certificate provided for in this section shall not

dispense with the permission and approval provided for in section one

hundred twenty-seven of the transportation law.