§ 93-B — Maintenance and removal of highway-railroad separation structures

§ 93-b. Maintenance and removal of highway-railroad separation\nstructures. The responsibility of a railroad corporation to maintain\nand keep in repair highway-railroad separation structures as provided by\nlaw shall not terminate upon the abandonment of the railroad or a\nportion thereof, but such responsibility, with respect to state\nhighways, shall continue unless otherwise agreed upon by the railroad\ncorporation and the state, and shall continue with respect to highways\nother than state highways unless otherwise agreed upon by the governing\nbody or its designee, of the municipality having jurisdiction over the\nhighway, until the separation structure is removed as hereinafter\nprovided. When a structure remains which separates a highway and an\nabandoned railroad, the railroad, or the transferee of the abandoned\nrailroad right-of-way when the transfer of such responsibility has been\napproved by the commissioner, and the state, or the municipal\ncorporation having jurisdiction over the highway, may mutually agree as\nto their allocations of the expenses of removal of the structures and\nits supports and restoration of the highway. If such approval is not\nobtained, the responsibility for maintenance and removal continue with\nthe railroad. In the event that the interested parties are unable to\nagree as to the necessity to remove a grade separation structure, the\nmanner of removal or the division of cost or the division of performance\nof the removal work within one year after the date of the abandonment by\nthe railroad corporation, either such railroad or such transferee of the\nrailroad rights-of-way or the municipality having jurisdiction over the\nhighway may petition the commissioner to hold a hearing in order to\nconsider such matter. The commissioner upon receipt of such a petition,\nor on his own motion with respect to state highways, shall designate a\ntime and place for a hearing to consider the matter. After such a\nhearing has been held, the commissioner shall determine by order whether\nit is in the public interest to require either removal of or the\nretention of the structure and its supports, in whole or in part, and\nshall direct the manner of accomplishing any such removal and the manner\nthat the cost and expenses of any such removal or the performance of any\nsuch removal work shall be divided. The division of cost to the railroad\nor transferee shall be limited to the cost of structure removal only,\nincluding superstructure and substructure elements. Material so removed\nshall become the property of the railroad, or the value gained from the\nsalvage disposition of such material shall be returned to the railroad.\nThe cost of any embankment removal or placement, or highway restoration,\nshall be borne by the state, or the municipal corporation having\njurisdiction over the highway. The decision of the commissioner rendered\nin any proceeding under this section shall be communicated after final\nhearing, to the petitioner, the railroad corporation or transferee, the\nmunicipal corporation and all other parties who appeared at said hearing\nby counsel or in person. 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 separation structure is\nlocated, and to the court of appeals, in the same manner and with like\neffect as is provided in the case of appeals from an order of the\nsupreme court.\n