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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019