23-4 shall not be more than twenty-five years from the date on which operation of any portion of said railroad shall commence to purchase and take the right or franchise so granted and any tunnel and railroad thereby authorized, or any portion of such tunnel and railroad, provided the city shall determine that said tunnel and railroad or such portion of said tunnel and railroad is necessary or desirable for use as part of some municipal system of rapid transit to be owned by the city, upon giving a specified notice and upon payment of the value of such tunnel and railroad, or portion of tunnel and railroad, but not including the franchise thereby granted, nor to exceed the actual cost in money of construction thereof and of property connected therewith. The grant may provide in default of agreement thereon for ascertainment and determination by arbitration or by the court of the amount to be paid by the city therefor. This act shall be deemed to have been in full force as hereby amended from before the time when any certificate has been granted by the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners or by said public service commission authorizing the construction and operation of any tunnel and railroad under the provisions of this section, and shall be deemed to have authorized any right heretofore given to any city in or by any such certificate granted as aforesaid to purchase and take any tunnel and railroad, or any portion of said tunnel and railroad, and every such certificate is as to such right given thereby hereby ratified and confirmed.

5. A certificate shall be prepared by the commission attested by its seal and the signature of its presiding officer, setting forth in detail the action taken and grant made or contract entered into by the commission with respect to such railroad or railroads and the terms, conditions and requirements aforesaid, including provisions as to the said annual payments and the future readjustments thereof. A like certificate shall be prepared in like manner upon every modification of the terms of the grant or contract as herein

after provided. Each such certificate shall prescribe the 23-5 terms and conditions of the readjustments of such annual payments and may provide for the determination of such amount upon such readjustments by arbitration or by the supreme court. Such certificate shall be delivered to said railroad corporation upon the receipt by said commission of a written acceptance of the terms, conditions and requirements of the grant or contract, duly executed by said railroad corporation, so as to entitle it to be recorded.

6. The said certificate shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state and a duly certified copy thereof shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the said city is situated, and thereupon, and upon fulfillment by such railroad corporation, so far as it relates to such railroad or railroads, of such of the requirements and conditions as are necessary to be fulfilled in such cases, under section eighteen of article three of the constitution of this state, and upon fulfillment by such railroad corporation of such other terms, conditions and requirements enumerated in said certificate, as the said *board commission may require to be fulfilled as a condition precedent to commencing said work, said railroad corporation shall in such cases possess in addition to its already existing franchises all the powers conferred by this act upon corporations with respect to its railroads authorized to be constructed as aforesaid, and when any route or routes, rights or franchises, shall be so fixed and determined, and a certificate as aforesaid shall have been duly filed, such railroad corporation may construct the same with all the rights, and with like effect as though the same had been a part of the original route of its railroad then in actual operation, or as may be provided in said certificate, but in every case subject to all the provisions and conditions of the said certificate. Every certificate prepared by the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners or the public service commission as aforesaid when delivered to and accepted by such railroad cor

* So in original

23-6 poration, shall be deemed to constitute a contract between the said city and said railroad corporation, according to the terms of said certificate; and such contract shall be enforceable by the commission acting in the name of and in behalf of the said city or by the said corporation according to the terms thereof, but subject to the provisions of this act. The terms of such contract may from time to time, with like approval and with the consent of such corporation, be modified by the commission.

7. But the construction and operation of such railroad or railroads are authorized only upon the condition that the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the property bounded on, and the consent also of the local authorities having control of that portion of a street or highway upon, above or under which it is proposed to construct or operate the same, be first obtained, provided that such local authorities shall, upon the presentation to them of any such grant or contract, without requiring the execution of any other agreements than those herein provided for, either approve or disapprove the same; and every such approval shall be and be deemed to be, free of all limitations except those contained in this act or the constitution of the state. In case the consent of such property owners can not be obtained, the appellate division of the supreme court in the department in which such railroad or railroads are proposed to be constructed, may, upon application, in the same manner and on the same notice specified in section five of this act, appoint three commissioners, who shall determine after a hearing of all parties interested, whether the same ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, confirmed by the court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of such property owners.

8. No grant or contract shall be made hereunder affecting in any way the liabilities and obligations of the grantee or contracting railroad corporation with reference to taxation for state or local purposes. The state of New York shall not be liable for injuries to persons

or property in connection with any railroad or other construction which may be authorized under the provisions of this act, nor shall the state of New York be liable for any damages in any event for any act or omission of the public service commission. (Former section 32. Laws 1891, ch. 4, § 32, as amended by L. 1895, ch. 519, § 8; L. 1902, ch. 584; L. 1906, ch. 472, § 3; L. 1906, ch. 606 and L. 1909, ch. 498, § 6.)

§ 24. Connections with other railroads, stations and ferries. 1. The public service commission may also from time to time, with the approval of the board of estimate and apportionment, upon application of any person, firm or corporation owning, leasing, constructing or actually operating or having the right by contract to thereafter operate a railroad wholly or in part within the limits of the city in which the commission has power to act, if in the judgment of said commission, the public interests so demand, fix and determine the route or routes by which any such person, firm or corporation may connect with other railroads, or the stations thereof, or with ferries or bridges, or may extend his or its lines or lines which he or it operates or has the right to operate as aforesaid within said city, or upon the application of a corporation organized under the railroad law for any of the purposes specified in subdivision nine of section twenty-seven of this act, and agreeing to equip, maintain and operate or to procure to be equipped, maintained and operated any road or roads of the city in connection with any existing railroad of a railroad corporation and any extension or extensions thereof wholly within such city, on the basis of a division of income, earnings or profits as hereinafter provided, the commission may with like approval, if in the judgment of the commission the public interests so demand, fix and determine the route or routes by which such corporation may construct, maintain and operate such extension or extensions, and may, with like approval, authorize such corporation to construct, maintain and operate such extension, and may with like approval au

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24-1 thorize any such person, firm or corporation to lay an additional track or tracks on, above, under or contiguous to a portion or the whole of the route or routes of his or its railroad or railroads within said city and to acquire terminal or other facilities necessary for the accommodation of the traveling public on any street or place except the place known as Battery park on which said railroad shall be located; and may also with like approval authorize any such person, firm or corporation to lay his or its tracks and operate his or its railroad to any terminal or terminals within the said city, and to transport over the same passengers or freight or both, and to run over the same either passenger trains or freight trains or mixed trains; and the commission shall with like approval fix and determine the locations and plans of construction of the railroads upon such route or routes and of such tracks and facilities, the times within which they shall be respectively constructed, the compensation to be made therefor to the city by said person, firm or corporation, and such other terms, conditions and requirements as to the said boards may appear just and proper, provided, however, that every such determination, authorization and license shall be made upon the condition that such person, firm or corporation shall from the time of the commencement of the operation of any such railroad or track or tracks under such determination, authorization or license, annually pay to the said city a sum or rental which may be a part or proportion of gross or net receipts, and that the amount of such sum or rental for a period of not more than twenty-five years, beginning with such operation of any such railroad, track or tracks, shall be prescribed by the commission in such determination, authorization and license, and that every such determination, authorization and license shall provide for the readjustment of the amount of such sum or rental at the expiration of the period for which the same shall be so prescribed and for readjustment from time to