(a) The maximum rates which any corporation, officer of court, trustee, person, or association of persons operating any railroad line in this state shall be authorized to charge or collect for the transportation by freight from any point within this state to any other point within this state of loads of crushed stone, sand, or gravel in carload lots, shall be as follows:
(1) Twenty-five (25) miles and under, forty cents (40¢) per ton;
(2) Up to and including fifty (50) miles and over twenty-five (25) miles, fifty cents (50¢) per ton;
(3) Up to and including seventy-five (75) miles and over fifty (50) miles, sixty cents (60¢) per ton;
(4) Up to and including one hundred (100) miles and over seventy-five (75) miles, seventy cents (70¢) per ton;
(5) Up to and including one hundred fifty (150) miles and over one hundred (100) miles, eighty cents (80¢) per ton;
(6) Up to and including two hundred (200) miles and over one hundred fifty (150) miles, one dollar ($1.00) per ton;
(7) Up to and including two hundred fifty (250) miles and over two hundred (200) miles, one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) per ton;
(8) Up to and including three hundred (300) miles and over two hundred fifty (250) miles, one dollar and forty cents ($1.40) per ton; and
(9) Up to and including four hundred (400) miles and over three hundred (300) miles, one dollar and sixty cents ($1.60) per ton.
(b) When shipments are transported over two (2) lines of railroad, an additional charge of thirty cents (30¢) per ton may be made and, when transported over three (3) or more lines, an additional charge of forty cents (40¢) per ton may be made.
(c) A ton, for the purpose of this section, shall be deemed to be two thousand pounds (2,000 lbs.).
(d)
(1) The minimum weight upon which the rates shall be calculated shall be the marked capacity of the car in which the shipment is loaded.
(2) However, when the shipper orders a smaller capacity and when the carrier, for its own convenience, places a larger capacity car, then in such cases the carrier shall not charge or collect freight on any greater weight than that actually loaded in the car, except that the weight charged for shall not be less than the marked loading capacity of the car ordered by the shipper.
(3) In every case in which a larger car is placed for loading than is ordered by the shipper, the carrier billing same shall make proper notation both in the bill of lading and the waybill instructing the destination agent as to such fact, to the end that the freight may be calculated upon the basis herein provided and overcharges avoided.
(e) However, the rates prescribed in this section shall apply only to crushed stone, sand, and gravel suitable for use in road building. In order to make the rate available, the shipper shall deliver to the carrier with each shipment a certificate to the effect that the crushed stone, sand, or gravel embraced in the shipment is suitable for and designed to be used in the construction of public highways in this state, and the consignee shall deliver to the carrier, upon receiving the shipment, a certificate of like effect.
(f)
(1) If any person or corporation operating any railroad in this state, or any receiver, trustee, or lessee of any such person or corporation shall violate any provision of this section by charging a greater rate on any shipment or any commodity named in this section than is prescribed in this section, the person or corporation, receiver, trustee, or lessee shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than three thousand dollars ($3,000) for each and every violation of this section.
(2) The penalty may be recovered by an action brought in the name of the State of Arkansas in any county in which any portion of any line of railroad owned or operated by any such person or corporation, receiver, trustee, or lessee may be situated.