2023 Indiana Code › Title 8. Utilities and Transportation › Article 3. Railroads Generally › Chapter 14. Altering Routes of Railroads › 8-3-14-1. Abandonment or Relocation; Damages

Sec. 1. If, at any time after the location of the line of any railroad chartered by this state, and the filing of the map thereof, it shall appear to the directors of such company that the line thereof is necessarily dangerous, inconvenient, or expensive to operate, by reason of unavoidable causes, grades, or serious errors in location, such directors may make local alteration of the line, and cause a new map to be filed in the office where the map showing the first location is filed, and may thereupon take possession of the lands embraced in such new location which may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of such road on such altered line, either by agreement of the owner or by such proceedings as are authorized by the charter of such company, and may use such new line in place of the one for which it is substituted; but nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to confer upon such railroad company any power to locate its road on any route which would not have been authorized by its charter; and nothing in this chapter contained shall authorize such company to make a location of its track within any city without the consent of the common council of such city, nor to change its road so as to avoid any point named in its charter. And any change so made by any railroad company shall subject said railroad company to the payment of all damages that may be sustained by any person, persons, or corporation on account of such change; provided, that if any railroad company change or relocate any part of its track for a distance of one (1) mile or more, thereby abandoning any part of its track or road as previously located, constructed, and operated, for a distance of one (1) mile or more, such railroad company shall, previous to such change, relocation, or abandoning, pay to the owner or owners of any real estate lying upon, along or near the route or line of said road from which such track is proposed to be taken all damages which may accrue to such owner or owners on account of such removal; such damages shall be assessed in the same manner as lands taken for railroad purposes in pursuance of the statute in force on April 23, 1903, in this state; and said damages, when so assessed, shall be paid to the owner or owners of said lands, or paid into the office of the clerk of the county in which said lands are located, for the use of said owner or owners, previous to the relocation or abandonment of said track; provided, further, that in all cases where any railroad company has made, before or after April 23, 1903, any such alterations as are provided for in this chapter, the board of county commissioners of the county in which such alterations are made may locate a public highway on the old line or route of such railroad for which such new line is substituted by the same proceedings and on the same terms as public highways are on or after April 23, 1903, located.
Formerly: Acts 1865(ss), c.23, s.1; Acts 1903, c.121, s.1; Acts 1907, c.211, s.1. As amended by P.L.62-1984, SEC.30.