§ 119. Rates and service to be fixed by the commissioner. 1. Whenever
the commissioner shall find, after a hearing had upon his own motion or
upon a complaint, that the rates, fares or charges demanded, exacted,
charged or collected by any common carrier subject to his jurisdiction
for the transportation of persons or property within the state, or that
the regulations or practices of such common carrier affecting such rates
are unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory or unduly
preferential, or in violation of law, or that the maximum rates, fares
or charges, chargeable by any such common carrier are insufficient to
yield reasonable compensation for the service rendered, and are unjust
and unreasonable, the commissioner shall with due regard among other
things to the estimated prospective earning capacity of such property at
the rate of fare at the time fixed and existent and to a reasonable
average return upon the value of the property actually used in the
public service, and to the necessity of making reservation out of income
for surplus and contingencies, determine the just and reasonable rates,
fares and charges to be thereafter observed and in force as the maximum
to be charged for the service to be performed, notwithstanding that a
higher rate, fare or charge has been heretofore authorized by general or
special statute, and shall fix the same by order to be served upon all
common carriers by whom such rates, fares and charges are thereafter to
be observed.

At any hearing involving a rate, the burden of proof to show that the
change in rate if proposed by the common carrier, or that the existing
rate, if on motion of the commissioner or in a complaint filed with the
commissioner it is proposed to reduce the rate, is just and reasonable
shall be upon the common carrier; and the commissioner may give to the
hearing and decision of such questions preference over all other
questions pending before him and decide the same as speedily as
possible.

Whenever the commissioner shall find, after a hearing had upon his own
motion, or upon a complaint, that the rates, fares or charges demanded,
exacted, charged or collected by any common carrier subject to his
jurisdiction for excursion, school or family commutation, commutation
passenger tickets, half fare tickets for the transportation of children
under six years of age, or any other form of reduced rate tickets for
the transportation of persons within the state, or joint interchangeable
mileage tickets, with special privileges as to the amount of free
baggage that may be carried under mileage tickets of one thousand miles
or more within the state, or that the regulations or practices of such
common carriers affecting such rates are unjust, unreasonable, unjustly
discriminatory or unduly preferential, or in violation of law, or that
the maximum rates, fares or charges collected or charged for any of such
forms of reduced fare passenger transportation tickets by any such
common carrier are insufficient to yield reasonable compensation for the
service rendered, and are unjust and unreasonable, and whenever the
commissioner shall find, after a hearing had upon his own motion or upon
a complaint, and upon investigation, that the sale of any form or forms
of reduced passenger ticket heretofore sold or used upon any railroad or
street railroad within the state, the use or sale of which ticket or
tickets has been discontinued within five years prior to June thirtieth,
nineteen hundred and eleven, will be just and reasonable and not in
violation of any provision of this chapter or other provision of law,
the commissioner shall, with due regard, among other things, to a
reasonable average return upon the value of the property actually used
in the public service and to the necessity of making reservation out of
income for surplus and contingencies, determine the just and reasonable
rates, fares and charges to be thereafter observed and enforced as the
maximum to be charged for such mileage, excursion, school or family
commutation, commutation, half fare or any other form of reduced rate
tickets for the transportation of persons, or joint interchangeable
mileage tickets with special privileges as aforesaid, and shall order
the sale and use thereof to be restored, or any of the kinds of tickets
herein specified or any other form of reduced rate ticket for the
transportation of persons within the state, upon any railroad or street
railroad within this state, upon which railroad or street railroad any
such form of ticket or tickets for the transportation of persons within
the state, have, within five years prior to June thirtieth, nineteen
hundred and eleven, been sold or used, and shall determine and prescribe
the reasonable and just rates, fares and charges to be thereafter
observed and enforced as the maximum to be charged for any of such form
of ticket or tickets for the transportation of persons within the state,
all of which acts fixing such rates, fares and charges or requiring the
restoration of, sale and use of any of such forms of ticket or tickets,
shall be by order to be served upon all common carriers, railroad
companies and street railroad companies by whom such rates, fares and
charges or restoration of, sale or use of such ticket or tickets are
thereafter to be observed.

2. Whenever the commissioner shall find, after a hearing, had upon his
own motion or upon complaint, that the regulations, practices,
equipment, appliances, or service of any such common carrier in respect
to transportation of persons or property within the state are unjust,
unreasonable, unsafe, improper or inadequate, the commissioner shall
determine the just, reasonable, safe, adequate and proper regulations,
practices, equipment, appliances and service thereafter to be in force,
to be observed and to be used in such transportation of persons and
property and so fix and prescribe the same by order to be served upon
every common carrier to be bound thereby; and thereafter every common
carrier shall observe and obey each and every requirement of every such
order so served upon it, and do everything necessary or proper in order
to secure absolute compliance with and observance of every such order by
all of its officers, agents and employees.

3. The commissioner shall have power by order to require any two or
more common carriers whose lines, owned, operated, controlled or leased,
form a continuous or connecting line of transportation or could be made
to do so by the construction and maintenance of switch connection or
interchange track at connecting point, or by transfer of property or
passengers at connecting points, to establish through routes and joint
rates, fares and charges for the transportation of passengers and
property within the state as the commissioner may, by his order,
designate; and in case such through routes and joint rates be not
established by the common carriers named in any such order within the
time therein specified, the commissioner shall establish just and
reasonable rates, fares and charges to be charged, for such through
transportation, and declare the portion thereof to which each common
carrier, affected thereby shall be entitled and the manner in which the
same shall be paid and secured; and the commissioner shall also have
power in the same proceeding, or in a separate proceeding involving any
rates, fares or charges to prescribe joint rates and fares and charges
as the maximum to be exacted for the transportation by them of
passengers and property within the state, and to require such common
carriers affected thereby to make within a specified time an agreement
between them as to the portion of such joint rates, fares or charges to
which each of them shall be entitled; and in case such agreement be not
so made within the time so specified the commissioner may declare by
supplemental order the portion thereof to which each common carrier
affected thereby shall be entitled and the manner in which the same
shall be paid and secured; such supplemental order shall take effect as
part of the original order from the time such supplemental order shall
become effective.

All powers of the commissioner to establish through routes and order
joint rates, fares and charges as above conferred in relation to common
carriers by railroad, shall extend and apply to the establishment of
through routes and ordering of joint rates, fares and charges for use
and observance by common carriers by railroad and common carriers by
water.

When property may be or is transported from point to point in the
state of New York by rail and water, the transportation being by a
common carrier or carriers, and entirely within such state, the
commissioner shall have jurisdiction of such transportation and of the
carriers, both by rail and by water, which may or do engage in the same,
in the following particulars, in addition to the jurisdiction given by
other provisions of this chapter:

(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.