§ 93-A — Maintenance and removal of highway-railroad crossing at grade

§ 93-a. Maintenance and removal of highway-railroad crossing at grade.\nThe responsibility of a railroad corporation to maintain and keep in\nrepair highway-railroad crossings at grade as provided by law shall not\nterminate upon the abandonment of the railroad or a portion thereof, but\nsuch responsibility with respect to state highways shall continue,\nunless otherwise agreed upon by the railroad corporation and the state,\nand with respect to highways other than state highways, shall continue\nunless otherwise agreed upon by the governing body, or its designee, of\nthe municipality having jurisdiction over the highway. Such\nresponsibility shall continue until the crossing at grade has been\nremoved and the highway pavement restored by the railroad corporation\nand/or pursuant to agreement with the railroad corporation by the state\nor municipality having jurisdiction over the highway, to such usable\ncondition as the commissioner or the municipality having jurisdiction\nover the highway, respectively, shall deem reasonable. Such\nresponsibility to maintain and remove may be transferred with the\napproval of the commissioner, and shall thereafter pass to the\ntransferee of the railroad corporation or successor in interest to the\nabandoned railroad right-of-way. If such approval is not obtained, the\nresponsibility for maintenance and removal shall continue with the\nrailroad. Upon failure to remove abandoned railroad facilities at a\nhighway-railroad crossing at grade within one year after the date of the\nabandonment by the railroad corporation, the municipality having\njurisdiction over the highway may petition the commissioner for an order\nto compel removal. The commissioner upon receipt of such a petition, or\non its own motion with respect to state highways, shall serve notice\nupon the party responsible for the removal of the highway-railroad\ncrossing at grade that a hearing, at a specified date, will be held to\ndetermine whether the highway-railroad crossing at grade should be\nremoved. After conclusion of such hearings, the commissioner shall, by\norder, determine whether it is in the public interest to require removal\nof the crossing at grade. If the commissioner determines that the\ncrossing at grade should be removed, the order shall direct such removal\nand describe the manner of removal and the party responsible for such\nremoval and may establish a penalty for non-compliance with such order\nat a sum equalling the actual cost, considering salvage, of such removal\nto be paid to the state with respect to state highways or to the\nmunicipality having jurisdiction over the highway with respect to\nhighways other than state highways. Any funds so paid shall be utilized\nto effect such removal. Any person aggrieved by such decision, and who\nwas a party to said proceeding, may within sixty days after the service\nof such decision appeal therefrom to the appellate division of the\nsupreme court in the department in which such crossing is located, and\nto the court of appeals, in the same manner and with like effect as is\nprovided in the case of appeals from an order of the supreme court.\n