2023 New York Laws › RAT - Rapid Transit › Article 8 - Plan for Unification › 90 - Commission to Prepare Plan.

§  90. Commission to prepare plan.  a. The commission after making the
  necessary studies and investigations shall prepare a plan for the relief
  of the emergency  which  is  hereby  declared  to  exist,  and  for  the
  improvement  of  transit  in  any  such  city.   Such plan shall contain
  provisions which in the judgment of the commission, will  accomplish  as
  nearly as may be the following purposes:
1. The acquisition and unification, under public ownership or control,
  of railroads by purchase and direct conveyance or transfer, or by lease,
  recapture,  assignment  of  lease,  modification  or  extinguishment  of
  existing  contract  or  by  contracts  for  equipment,  maintenance  and
  operation  or  maintenance  and  operation, by or under supervision of a
  board of transportation, or partly by one of such methods and partly  by
  one  or  more  of  the others, so that service thereon may be increased,
  extended and improved to the fullest extent possible,
2. The receipt as soon as practicable by the city of net revenues from
  the operation of the railroads which will be applicable to  the  payment
  of  interest and amortization charges on corporate stock or bonds of the
  city after deduction of  all  expenses  of  maintenance  and  operation,
  reserves  for  depreciation  and  otherwise,  interest  and amortization
  charges and other deductions as may be provided in  a  plan  or  in  any
  contract or lease made in pursuance of its provisions, and
3.  The  assuring to the people of the city the continued operation of
  the railroads at the present or lowest possible  fares  consistent  with
  their  safe and economical operation and the performance by the board of
  its obligations under any plan and under any lease or contract  made  in
  pursuance of its provisions.
  In  case  a  plan  or  any  amendment  thereof  or supplement thereto or
  separate plan adopted with the approval of the board of estimate of  the
  city  as  provided  in  this  article,  shall include any street surface
  railroads, it may  also  include  any  stage  coach  or  omnibus  lines,
  together  with  the  plant,  property  and  equipment  thereof, owned or
  operated in conjunction with, or as a part of the same system  as,  such
  street surface railroads.
   b.  The  commission shall include in the plan appropriate provision for
  the protection of tort creditors; and shall provide for the  continuance
  in  original  or  modified  form  of  any  existing plan or provision of
  railroad companies for employees' pension and sick benefit  relief,  but
  such  continuance shall in no manner or form impair the actuarial status
  or benefits of employees who are members of the New York city employees'
  retirement system. Without limiting the authority and discretion of  the
  commission,  it may consider the incorporation in the plan of provisions
  whereby the title to such railroads as are not already owned by the city
  and whose ownership thereby is deemed by the commission to be  desirable
  may  be  vested  in the city and whereby rights under existing contracts
  for the construction, equipment and operation of rapid transit railroads
  already owned by the city may be acquired by the city. Such title and/or
  such rights may be vested in the city directly or may first pass through
  an intervening corporation and then to the city, either free  and  clear
  of   liens   and   encumbrances   or  subject  to  specified  liens  and
  encumbrances, in return for a lease  or  leases  by  the  city  of  such
  railroads  and  of  any  other  railroads  owned by it and such other or
  additional considerations as  the  commission  may  determine  with  the
  approval  of the board of estimate. In the event of the incorporation of
  such provisions in the plan the commission shall outline an  arrangement
  whereby  outstanding securities of the railroad companies may be retired
  by application of the  amounts  paid  by  the  city  for  the  railroads
  acquired and whereby such securities may be amortized or otherwise paid.
  Any  railroad  company  included  in  the  plan, with the consent of the

  holders of record of at least two-thirds of its  outstanding  shares  of
  stock entitled to vote thereon, given as provided in section one hundred
  forty-eight  of  the railroad law, may transfer and convey its property,
  appurtenances  and  franchises,  or any part thereof, to the city and/or
  such intervening corporation as provided in the plan, subject,  however,
  to  the  rights of appraisal of the shares of any dissenting stockholder
  as provided in section one hundred sixty-one of the  railroad  law.  Any
  railroad  company  included  in  a plan whose entire outstanding capital
  stock or whose railroad facilities are acquired by the city as  provided
  therein  may be dissolved without judicial proceeding in the same manner
  as provided in and subject  to  the  same  provisions  as  contained  in
  section  one  hundred  five of the stock corporation law with respect to
  the dissolution of stock corporations, and upon filing  the  certificate
  of  dissolution  in  the office of the secretary of state, titles to and
  ownership of the railroad, franchises, properties  and  assets  of  such
  railroad  company shall pass to and vest in the city. The certificate of
  dissolution of any such railroad company shall bear endorsed thereon, in
  addition to the consent of the state tax commission,  the  approval  and
  consent of the commission to the filing of such certificate.
c. In connection with the preparation of any plan the commission shall
  cause  a valuation to be made of the railroads, properties and interests
  therein,  including  leases  and  leasehold  interests  and  outstanding
  contracts  the assignment to or cancellation of which by the city may be
  deemed advisable but  excluding  franchises  and  going  value,  of  the
  railroad  company  or railroad companies it proposes to include therein.
  Any such valuation including the value of contracts acquired may  be  in
  such  detail  and  include such elements of cost or value and be made in
  such manner as the commission  from  time  to  time  may  determine  and
  prescribe,   with   due  regard  to  the  past,  present  and  estimated
  prospective earnings of such railroads, properties and interests at  the
  rate  of  fare  that the railroad company prior to April twenty-seventh,
  nineteen hundred twenty-one was entitled to charge under the  provisions
  of  the contracts or franchises under which such properties are operated
  or held or of any lawful order then in force fixing or regulating  rates
  of  fare, or under existing law, and in view of the competition of other
  lines and with due regard to all other pertinent facts  and  conditions;
  but  such  valuation  shall not in any case exceed the fair reproduction
  cost of such properties less depreciation, and, in the case of leasehold
  interests and contracts to be assigned, acquired or cancelled, the  fair
  value  of  any  such  leaseholds  and  contracts.  Any such valuation as
  finally determined by the commission may be the basis for the  inclusion
  of  such  railroads, properties, contracts and interests in the plan and
  for fixing the allowances and returns on account thereof under the  plan
  and under any leases or contracts made in pursuance of its provisions.
d.  In  connection with the preparation of the plan the commission may
  include in the plan provision for railroads operating  between  a  point
  within  the  city  and a point without the city and connecting railroads
  whose lines stop at or near the city line. The plan may also include, in
  addition to and in conjunction with the railroad of a  railroad  company
  included  therein, a railroad owned by the city and/or a railroad leased
  or to be leased by the city from the owner or lessee of such railroad.