2023 New York Laws › RRD - Railroad › Article 5 - Street Surface Railroads › 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.