ARTICLE XXV.

RAILROADS.

An act to confirm, ratify, and make valid ordinances heretofore passed by the trustees, council, or other body intrusted with the government of any incorporated city, city and county, or town giving authority and permission to propel cars upon railroad tracks laid through the streets and public highways of such incorporated city, city and county, or town, by electricity.

[Approved February 25, 1891; Stats. 1891, p. 12.]

§ 1. Motive power on street railway.

Section 1. In all cases where, prior to the passage of this act, authority to lay railroad tracks through streets or public highways of any incorporated city, city and county, or town, has been obtained for a term of years, not exceeding fifty, from the trustees, council, or other body to whom was intrusted the government of the city, city and county, or town, and permission has been granted by such governing body to propel cars upon such tracks by electricity, such authority and permission shall be, and shall be held and deemed, as valid and legal as the same would have been if, at the time of the obtaining thereof, section four hundred and ninety-seven of the Civil Code had expressly declared that permission might be given to propel cars upon such tracks by electricity, as well as by horses, mules, or wire ropes running under the streets and propelled by stationary steam-engines; provided, that all such permissions or franchises heretofore granted shall be subject to the provisions of the laws of this state applicable to street railroads in general, and subject to the same regulations from city, city and county, and town authorities as if the said franchises were hereafter granted.

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and

after its passage.

An act relating to the operation of railroads.

[Approved March 23, 1893; Stats. 1893, 208.]

1. Motive power on steam railroads.

Section 1. Every railroad company now or hereafter engaged in the business of operating a railroad or railroads, by

steam motive power, in the state of California, is hereby authorized and empowered to use electricity or steam, or both electricity and steam, for the purpose of propelling cars or trains on such railroad or railroads, or upon any portion thereof; provided, that in incorporated cities and towns having more than five thousand inhabitants, authority must first be obtained from the legislative authority of such city or town in the same manner in which franchises are granted.

Sec. 2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

An act to enable railroad companies to complete their railroads. [Approved April 1, 1878; Stats. 1877-78, 944.]

§ 1. Extending time to complete construction.

Section 1. Every railroad company heretofore organized under the laws of this state, and which has completed a portion of its road prior to the passage of this act, is hereby authorized and empowered to complete its road as described in its articles of incorporation, notwithstanding it may not have begun the construction of its road within two years after filing its original articles of incorporation, and notwithstanding it may not have completed and put in operation five miles of its road each year thereafter.

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

An act to compel railroad corporations, or individuals owning railroads to operate their roads.

[Approved April 15, 1880; Stats. 1880, 43 (Ban. ed. 205).]

§ 1. Operation of railroads, or forfeiture.

§ 2. Prevention of operation.

3. Duty of railroad commissioners.

Section 1. From and after the completion of any railroad, or the completion of such portion thereof capable of being operated, it shall be the duty of the corporation, or individual owning the same, to operate it; and upon the failure of said corporation or

individual so owning said road to keep the same, or any part thereof, in full operation for the period of six months, its or his right to operate the same in whole or in part, as the case may be, shall be forfeited; and the lands occupied for the purposes of its or his road, so far as the same shall not be operated, shall revert to the original owners, or their successors in interest. Α railroad shall be deemed to be in full operation when one passenger train, or one mixed train, is run over it once each day in each direction, and a sufficient number of freight trains to accommodate the traffic on said road.

Sec. 2. This act shall not be construed to apply to a case where the operation of the road is prevented by the act of God, nor to a case where the operation of said road, together with its branch or trunk lines, does not yield income sufficient to defray the expenses of maintaining and operating the same in connection with its said branch or trunk lines.

Sec. 3. The railroad commissioners of the state of California' shall have the power to examine and determine the question whether said road, together with its said branch and trunk lines, does or does not yield income sufficient to operate the same. Sec. 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

An act to provide for the management and operation of railroads above certain elevations.

[Approved February 9, 1897; Stats. 1897, p. 5.]

§ 1. Railroads at altitude of five thousand feet.

Section 1. All railroads operated in this state whose lines of road are wholly constructed at an elevation of five thousand feet, or more, above the level of the sea, shall only be required to maintain and operate their roads, or to run passenger or freight cars thereon, between the fifteenth day of May, and the fifteenth day of October in each year.

Corporation Laws-50

An act permitting and authorizing railway and other corporations, organized under the laws of this state, or of any state or ter ritory of the United States of America, or any act of Congress of the United States of America, to do business in this state on equal terms.

[Approved April 3, 1880; Stats. 1880, 21 (Ban. ed. 114).]

Section 1. That every railway corporation, and every corporation organized for the purpose of carrying freights or passengers, which has or may be created or organized under or by virtue of any of the laws of any state or territory of the United States of America, or any act of Congress of the United States of America, may hereafter build railways, exercise the right of eminent domain, and do or transact any other business which such corporation might, if the same had been created or organized under or by virtue of the laws of this state, having the same rights, privileges, and immunities, and subject to the same laws, penalties, and obligations, and burdens, as though said corporations had been created by or organized under the laws of the state of California.

Sec. 2. Railroad corporations doing business in this state and organized under any law of this state, or the United States, or of any state or territory thereof, have power to enter into contracts with one another, whereby the one may lease of the other the whole or any part of its railroad, or may acquire of the other the right to use, in common with it, the whole or any part of its railroad.

Sec. 3. All laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

An act requiring city, city and county, or town authorities to exact and require from persons or corporations seeking permission and authority to lay railroad tracks through streets or public highways of any incorporated city, city and county, or town, a satisfactory promise and undertaking to permit and allow mail carriers in the employ of the United States government at all times while engaged in the actual discharge of duty, to ride on the cars of such railroad without paying fare; and to make such promise and undertaking a condition precedent to the granting of such permission and authority by such governing board. § 1. Carrying mail carriers free.

[Approved February 27, 1893; Stats. 1893, 44.]

Section 1. In all cases hereafter, where application is made to the city, city and county, or town authorities, or to the trustees, council, or other body to whom is intrusted the government of the city, city and county, or town, for permission and authority to lay railroad tracks through streets or public highways of any incorporated city, city and county, or town, such authorities, before granting such permission and authority, in addition to the terms and restrictions which they are now, by law, authorized to impose, must exact and require from the persons or corporation asking or seeking such permission and authority, a satisfactory promise and undertaking to permit and allow mail carriers in the employ of the United States government, at all times while engaged in the actual discharge of duty, to ride on the cars of such railroad without paying any sum of money whatever for fare or otherwise. And such governing body of city, city and county, or town authorities must make such promise and undertaking on the part of such persons or corporations a condition precedent to the granting of such permission and authority to lay railroad tracks through streets or public highways of such city, city and county, or town; provided, that all such permissions and franchises shall be subject to all other provisions of the laws of this state applicable to street railroads in general, and subject to regulations from city, city and county, and town authorities.

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage.