CHAPTER 14. ALTERING ROUTES OF RAILROADS
IC 8-3-14
Chapter 14. Altering Routes of Railroads
IC 8-3-14-1
Abandonment or relocation; damages
Sec. 1. If, at any time after the location of the line of any railroad
chartered by this state, and the filing of the map thereof, it shall
appear to the directors of such company that the line thereof is
necessarily dangerous, inconvenient, or expensive to operate, by
reason of unavoidable causes, grades, or serious errors in location,
such directors may make local alteration of the line, and cause a new
map to be filed in the office where the map showing the first location
is filed, and may thereupon take possession of the lands embraced in
such new location which may be necessary for the construction and
maintenance of such road on such altered line, either by agreement
of the owner or by such proceedings as are authorized by the charter
of such company, and may use such new line in place of the one for
which it is substituted; but nothing in this chapter shall be so
construed as to confer upon such railroad company any power to
locate its road on any route which would not have been authorized by
its charter; and nothing in this chapter contained shall authorize such
company to make a location of its track within any city without the
consent of the common council of such city, nor to change its road
so as to avoid any point named in its charter. And any change so
made by any railroad company shall subject said railroad company
to the payment of all damages that may be sustained by any person,
persons, or corporation on account of such change; provided, that if
any railroad company change or relocate any part of its track for a
distance of one (1) mile or more, thereby abandoning any part of its
track or road as previously located, constructed, and operated, for a
distance of one (1) mile or more, such railroad company shall,
previous to such change, relocation, or abandoning, pay to the owner
or owners of any real estate lying upon, along or near the route or
line of said road from which such track is proposed to be taken all
damages which may accrue to such owner or owners on account of
such removal; such damages shall be assessed in the same manner as
lands taken for railroad purposes in pursuance of the statute in force
on April 23, 1903, in this state; and said damages, when so assessed,
shall be paid to the owner or owners of said lands, or paid into the
office of the clerk of the county in which said lands are located, for
the use of said owner or owners, previous to the relocation or
abandonment of said track; provided, further, that in all cases where
any railroad company has made, before or after April 23, 1903, any
such alterations as are provided for in this chapter, the board of
county commissioners of the county in which such alterations are
made may locate a public highway on the old line or route of such
railroad for which such new line is substituted by the same
proceedings and on the same terms as public highways are on or after
April 23, 1903, located.
(Formerly: Acts 1865(ss), c.23, s.1; Acts 1903, c.121, s.1; Acts 1907,
c.211, s.1.) As amended by P.L.62-1984, SEC.30.