§ 80. Connecting routes and extension of lines. a. The commission, from time to time, with the approval of the board of estimate and of the mayor may grant a right or franchise or enter into a contract, upon application to such commission of any railroad corporation for the purpose of constructing and operating a tunnel railroad from an adjoining state under the North or Hudson or Harlem river to a terminus within the city; or under the North or Hudson river and thence transversely across and under the surface of the borough of Manhattan and thence under the East river by the shortest practicable route; such railroad to be connected with some trunk line railroad whose terminus is in this or an adjoining state, thereby forming a continuous line for the carriage of passengers and property.

b. A similar grant may be made, or a similar contract entered into, upon the application of a railroad corporation, owning or actually operating a trunk line railroad whose terminus is within the city, or of a railroad corporation owning or actually operating, or by the certificate of the commission required to own or actually operate, a railroad wholly or partly within such city and engaged or intended, and in such certificate so recited and required, to be, in interstate commerce in connection with a trunk line railroad and which shall have, or be required by such certificate to have a terminus in such city, for the purpose of constructing and operating a railroad from such terminus by the shortest practicable route to and under or over the East river or the North or Hudson river, or the Harlem river, to any point in this or an adjoining state, or to connect such terminus with the railroad or terminus of any other such railroad or trunk line railroad in this state or to straighten or improve the grade or alignment of any such railroad or more directly connect any points thereon.

c. If and when in the judgment of such commission the public interests so demand, the commission, with like approval, may fix and determine the route by which any such railroad corporation making such application may so establish and construct or so extend its lines into or within such city, and may authorize any such railroad corporation to construct and operate any such railroad or connecting railroad under any streets, and also in the case of any such railroad or connecting railroad which is, or by the terms of such certificate is required to be, operated or used as a part of an interstate trunk line, to construct and operate the same over and across any such streets, but not over and lengthwise of any streets, with all necessary devices and appurtenances and with the right to emerge to the surface upon private lands at the termini, and to transport over the same passengers or freight or both and to run over the same either passenger trains or freight trains or mixed trains.

d. The commission, with like approval, shall fix and determine the locations and plans of construction of the railroad upon such route, the times within which portions thereof shall be constructed, the compensation to be made therefor to the city by the railroad corporation to which the grant shall be made, or with which the contract shall be entered into, and such other terms, conditions and requirements as to the commission may appear just and proper. Every such grant shall be made and every such contract entered into, however, upon the condition that the railroad corporation to which the grant shall be made or with which the contract shall be entered into, from the time of the commencement of the operation of any such railroad, shall annually pay to such city a sum or rental. The amount of such sum or rental for a period of not more than twenty-five years, beginning with such operation of any such railroad, shall be prescribed by the commission in such grant or contract. Every such grant or contract shall provide for the readjustment of the amount of such sum or rental at the expiration of the period for which it shall be so prescribed and for readjustment from time to time in the future of the amount of such annual payment at intervals each of not more than twenty-five years. The grant may also provide that the city shall have the right after the expiration of a period fixed in the grant which shall not be more than twenty-five years from the date on which operation of any portion of such railroad shall commence to purchase and take the right or franchise so granted and any tunnel and railroad, thereby authorized, or any portion of such tunnel and railroad, provided the city shall determine that such tunnel and railroad or such portion of such tunnel and railroad is necessary or desirable for use as part of some municipal system of rapid transit to be owned by the city, upon giving a specified notice and upon payment of the value of such tunnel and railroad, or portion of tunnel and railroad, but not including the franchise thereby granted, nor to exceed the actual cost in money of construction thereof and of property connected therewith. The grant may provide in default of agreement thereon for ascertainment and determination by arbitration or by the court of the amount to be paid by the city therefor. Any certificate granted by the board of rapid transit railroad commissioners or by the public service commission before the twenty-sixth day of May, nineteen hundred nine authorizing the construction and operation of any tunnel and railroad under the provisions of this section, and any right theretofore given to the city in or by any such certificate so granted to purchase and take any tunnel and railroad, or any portion of such tunnel and railroad shall be deemed to have been authorized, and every such certificate is hereby ratified and confirmed as to such right given thereby.

e. A certificate shall be prepared by the commission attested by its seal and the signature of its presiding officer, setting forth in detail the action taken and grant made or contract entered into by the commission with respect to such railroad and the terms, conditions and requirements aforesaid, including provisions as to such annual payments and the future readjustments thereof. A like certificate shall be prepared in like manner upon every modification of the terms of the grant or contract as provided in this chapter. Each such certificate shall prescribe the terms and conditions of the readjustments of such annual payments and may provide for the determination of such amount upon such readjustments by arbitration or by the supreme court. Such certificate shall be delivered to such railroad corporation upon the receipt by such commission of a written acceptance of the terms, conditions and requirements of the grant or contract, duly executed by such railroad corporation, so as to entitle it to be recorded.

f. Such certificate shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state, and a duly certified copy thereof shall be filed in the office of the clerk of each county in which such railroad is situated, and thereupon, and upon fulfillment by such railroad corporation, so far as it relates to such railroad, of such of the requirements and conditions as are necessary to be fulfilled in such cases, under section seventeen of article three of the constitution, and upon fulfillment by such railroad corporation of such other terms, conditions and requirements enumerated in such certificate, as the commission may require to be fulfilled as a condition precedent to commencing such work, such railroad corporation shall in such cases possess in addition to its already existing franchises all the powers conferred by this chapter upon corporations with respect to its railroads authorized to be constructed as aforesaid. When any routes, rights or franchises, shall be so fixed and determined, and a certificate as aforesaid shall have been duly filed, such railroad corporation may construct the same with all the rights and with like effect as though the same had been a part of the original route of its railroad then in actual operation, or as may be provided in such certificate, but in every case subject to all the provisions and conditions of such certificate. Every certificate prepared by the commission or any of its predecessors as aforesaid when delivered to and accepted by such railroad corporation, shall be deemed to constitute a contract between such city and such railroad corporation, according to the terms of such certificate. Such contract shall be enforceable by the commission acting in the name of and in behalf of such city or by such corporation according to the terms thereof, but subject to the provisions of this chapter. The terms of such contract, from time to time, with like approval and with the consent of such corporation, may be modified by the commission.

g. But the construction and operation of such railroad is authorized only upon the condition that the consent of the owners of one-half in value of the property bounded on, and the consent also of the board of estimate and the mayor be first obtained, provided that such board of estimate and mayor, upon the presentation to them of any such grant or contract, without requiring the execution of any other agreements than those herein provided for, shall either approve or disapprove the same. Every such approval shall be and be deemed to be, free of all limitations except those contained in this chapter or the constitution. In case the consent of such property owners can not be obtained, the appellate division of the supreme court in the department in which such railroad is proposed to be constructed, upon application, in the same manner and on the same notice specified in section twenty-one of this chapter, may appoint three commissioners, who shall determine after a hearing of all parties interested, whether such railroad ought to be constructed or operated, and their determination, confirmed by the court, may be taken in lieu of the consent of such property owners.

h. No grant or contract shall be made hereunder affecting in any way the liabilities and obligations of the grantee or contracting railroad corporation with reference to taxation for state or local purposes. The state shall not be liable for injuries to persons or property in connection with any railroad or other construction which may be authorized under the provisions of this chapter, nor shall the state be liable for any damages in any event for any act or omission of the commission.