New York Laws
Article 5 - The Powers of the Commissioner in Respect to Common Carriers
119 - Rates and Service to Be Fixed by the Commissioner.

(a) To establish physical connection between the lines of the rail
carrier and the dock of the water carrier by directing the rail carrier
to make suitable connection between its line and a track or tracks which
have been constructed from the dock to the limits of its right of way,
or by directing either or both the rail and water carrier, individually
or in connection with one another, to construct and connect with the
lines of the rail carrier a spur track or tracks to the dock. This
provision shall only apply where the connection is reasonably
practicable, can be made with safety to the public, and where the amount
of business existing or prospective is sufficient to justify the outlay.
The commissioner shall have full authority to determine the terms and
conditions upon which these connecting tracks, when constructed, shall
be operated, and he may either in the construction or the operation of
such tracks, determine what sum shall be paid to or by either carrier.
The provisions of this paragraph shall extend to cases where the dock is
owned by other parties than the carrier involved. The commissioner
shall have authority to compel common carriers by rail to make physical
connection between their tracks and public terminals established and
operated by the state under the provisions of chapter seven hundred and
forty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and eleven, at the expense of
such carrier and of the state in such proportions as may be reasonable,
where such connection is practicable. The commissioner shall also have
authority to compel common carriers by rail to operate upon the railroad
tracks within such public terminals by such common carriers' own motive
power and servants all rolling stock going to or coming from such public
terminals. Common carriers by rail required to make such connections
shall file tariffs for all service into and out of such terminals and
over the connecting lines of such carriers by rail, if complaint is made
by any person that the rates so made are unreasonable, the burden shall
be upon the common carrier by rail to establish the reasonableness of
such rates. If the rates are found by the commissioner to be
unreasonable, the commissioner shall establish reasonable rates. The use
and operation of such connections and the spotting, placing and removing
of rolling stock shall be in accordance with the regulations prescribed
by the commissioner.
(b) To establish through routes and from time to time order maximum
joint rates between and over such rail and water lines, and to determine
all the terms and conditions under which such a line shall be operated
in the handling of the traffic embraced.
(c) To establish maximum proportional rates by rail to and from places
to which the traffic is brought, or from which it is taken by the water

carrier, and to determine to what traffic and upon what terms and
conditions such rates shall apply. By proportional rates are meant those
which differ from corresponding local rates to and from the place of
receipt and delivery and which apply only to traffic which is brought to
the place of receipt and delivery or is carried from that place by a
common carrier by water.
(d) If any rail carrier subject to this chapter enters into
arrangements with any water carrier operating in the state for the
handling of business between interior points in said state, the
commissioner may require such carrier to enter into similar arrangements
with any or all other common carriers by water operating therein.
(e) No common carrier by rail shall own, lease, operate, control or
have any interest whatsoever, by stock ownership or otherwise, either
directly or indirectly, through any holding company, or by stockholders
or directors in common, or in any other manner, in any common carrier by
water, with which said common carrier does or may compete for traffic,
or in vessels, boats or barges carrying freight upon any water route
with which such common carrier does or may compete for traffic.
Jurisdiction is hereby conferred on the commissioner to determine
questions of fact as to the competition or possibility of competition,
after full hearing, on the application of any railroad company or other
carrier. Such application may be filed for the purpose of determining
whether any existing service is in violation of this section and pray
for an order permitting the continuance of any vessel or vessels already
in operation, or for the purpose of asking an order to install new
service not in conflict with the provisions of this paragraph. The
commissioner may on his own motion or the application of any shipper
institute proceedings to inquire into the operation of any vessel in use
by any railroad or other carrier which has not applied to the
commissioner and had the question of competition or the possibility of
competition determined as herein provided.
(f) The provisions of sections ninety-eight, ninety-nine and one
hundred, relating to filing, publication and changes of rates, fares and
charges of common carriers shall apply to all rates, fares and charges,
and regulations and practices affecting rates, fares and charges for
transportation partly by water and partly by railroad, when both the
water line and the railroad line are used for a continuous carriage or
shipment; but the said section shall not apply to rates, fares or
charges, or regulations or practices affecting rates, fares or charges,
established by any such common carrier by water for local carriage or
shipment of passengers or property between points in this state which
are served by such common carrier wholly by water and independently of
any railroad service.
The provisions of this chapter, and the powers of the commissioner,
relating to the transportation of passengers and property by railroad
apply to the transportation of passengers and property partly by
railroad and partly by water when both the railroad line and such water
line are used for a continuous carriage or shipment between points in
this state; and the provisions of this chapter and the powers of the
commissioner respecting common carriers by water are hereby limited
thereto, except as may be in this section otherwise specifically
provided.
4. If the commissioner shall be of the opinion that through cars for
the transportation of property should be operated over the tracks of
said common carriers and that switch connection or interchange track at
a connecting point, if not already existing, should be constructed and
maintained by such common carriers, to the end that property may be
carried without change of cars, the commissioner shall have power after

a hearing to require by order said common carriers to receive from each
other and transport for each other such cars over each other's tracks by
way of such switch connection or interchange track, and if no such
switch connection or interchange track exist to construct and maintain
said switch connection or interchange track, and to make within a
specified time not less than thirty days an agreement between them as to
the terms of such receipt and transportation of cars, and if so required
as to the division of the expense of such construction and maintenance
of switch connection or interchange track; and in case such agreement be
not so made within the time so specified, the commissioner shall after a
hearing declare by supplemental order the terms and conditions upon
which such cars shall be received and transported, and if so required
the portion of such expense to which each common carrier affected
thereby shall be entitled and the manner in which any sums of money to
which any such common carrier is entitled shall be paid and secured, and
such supplemental order shall take effect as part of the original order
from the time such supplemental order shall become effective. Nothing in
this subdivision shall require a through route between railroad
companies and street railroad companies between points reached by such
railroad companies. In case upon the termination of a lease or otherwise
the owner or lessor of a rapid transit railroad resumes operation
thereof and thereupon such owner or lessor or the lessee discontinues or
threatens to discontinue or refuses or threatens to refuse to permit
operation over any extension or extensions of such rapid transit
railroad or railroads or any of them, or discontinues or threatens to
discontinue or refuses or threatens to refuse to permit operation over
other railroads on which such lessee had operated under trackage rights,
then and in either of those events the commissioner may order that
through cars for the transportation of passengers shall be operated over
such extension or extensions and over the tracks of such other railroad
over which such lessee may have had trackage rights, and the
commissioner shall have power, after a hearing to require by order such
operating, including the right to order such switch or other connections
or interchange tracks as may be necessary, and if so required to
determine as to the division of the expense of the maintenance and
operation thereof. The commissioner may, after a hearing, prescribe the
terms and conditions upon which such operations shall be conducted and
the manner in which receipts and expenses shall be apportioned. Pending
the hearing or hearings provided for herein, and the determinations and
orders of the commissioner thereon, the commissioner shall have power,
if in his judgment the public interest requires it, to issue a temporary
order requiring said rapid transit railroad companies to receive from
each other, and transport for each other, such cars over each other's
tracks by way of switch connection or interchange track, and if no such
switch connection or interchange track exists, to construct and maintain
said switch connection or interchange track; and upon the completion of
said hearing or hearings, and the determinations and orders of the
commissioner thereafter made, the terms of the receipt and
transportation of cars, and the readjustment of compensation and expense
involved, shall take effect as of the original date of such temporary
order of the commissioner. If upon the expiration or earlier termination
of a lease, the free transfer or interchange of passengers, theretofore
in effect and permitted by the lessee of a rapid transit railroad at any
point or points between the lines of the rapid transit railroads owned
or leased and operated by it, is discontinued or is threatened to be
discontinued, the commissioner shall have power by order to require the
companies, by which the said lines of rapid transit railroads may be
operated after the termination of the lease, to continue or re-establish

such through routes formerly existing, and to establish joint rates,
fares and charges for the transportation of passengers thereon in the
manner provided by subdivision three. Pending the hearing or hearings
provided for herein, and the determinations and orders of the
commissioner thereon, the commissioner shall have power to issue a
temporary order requiring the companies then operating said lines of
rapid transit railroad to restore the said free transfer or interchange
of passengers at the point or points on said rapid transit railroad
lines where the said free transfer or interchange was formerly in effect
and permitted; and upon the completion of said hearing or hearings, and
the determinations and orders of the commissioner thereafter made, the
terms and conditions under which the portion of said joint rates, fares
and charges to which each company shall be entitled and the manner in
which the same shall be paid and secured, shall take effect as of the
original date of such temporary order of the commissioner.