Subtitle 18 – Railroads

No railroad company incorporated by or under the authority of this State, or doing business therein, shall issue, sell or receive tickets for passage through the City of Baltimore, or make agreement or agreements with any other railroad company or companies outside of this State to issue or sell tickets for passage over their respective lines through the City of Baltimore, unless there is a coupon on said ticket for passage from a given place in or out of this State to the City of Baltimore, and another coupon on said ticket from the City of Baltimore to a given place in or out of this State.

In issuing or selling all tickets for passage in this State through the City of Baltimore, or making agreements with other railroad companies outside of this State to issue or sell tickets for passage through the City of Baltimore, the said tickets shall permit the holders thereof to a stopover privilege of at least forty-eight (48) hours in the City of Baltimore; provided, that nothing in <cite data-path="18|§18-2">this section</cite> shall prohibit railroad companies from issuing and selling tickets without this stopover privilege in the City of Baltimore, for special occasions, when the tickets for passage are good only on excursion trains not on the regular schedule of the railroad.

All passenger trains passing through the City of Baltimore must stop at least three minutes at the principal station of the company operating said trains, and the stoppage of all trains must be announced in such manner as will give passengers ample opportunity to get off.

Any manager, officer, agent, conductor, or employee, who shall violate any of the provisions of Sections <cite data-path="18|§18-1">18-1</cite> to <cite data-path="18|§18-4">18-4</cite> shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon indictment and conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars for each offense, one-half of said fine to go to the informer.

The Board of Estimates of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, subject to ratification and approval by ordinance, is hereby authorized and empowered to agree with any railroad company for the surrender of any of its franchises, easements or rights-of-way and in substitution for the franchise, easement or right-of-way so surrendered, to grant a new franchise, easement or right-of-way on any highway, street, avenue or road and which may be for the same duration as the franchise, easement or right-of-way surrendered.

The said several passenger street railway companies shall pay to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, a tax upon their gross receipts of nine percent, in quarterly installments, on the first day of January, April, July and October, in each year.

The Board of Park Commissioners <em>{Department of Recreation and Parks}</em>, or any agent or agents of the said Commissioners, authorized in writing by a certificate signed by the president and secretary thereof, shall have authority and power from time to time, and at any time the said Board of Park Commissioners see fit, to make examination of the books, accounts and car fare registers of any or all of the street railway companies in the City of Baltimore, for the purpose of satisfying said Board of Park Commissioners that returns of the “park tax” are fairly and correctly made by said companies, and by each and every one of them; and any street railway company whose officers shall neglect or refuse, on demand of said Board of Park Commissioners, to permit the said Commissioners of any agent or agents of said Commissioners authorized in writing as above prescribed, to at any time inspect its said books, accounts and carfare registers or any of them, shall forfeit and pay a fine of one hundred dollars for each and every day it shall so neglect or refuse to comply with such demand; said penalty to be collected by an action of debt in the name of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

On default of any of the street railway companies operating street railway lines within the present City limits, in the payment of the park tax of nine per centum of the gross receipts from all street railway lines within the present City limits, for the term of ten days after the expiration of any quarter, the company or companies so in default shall pay a penalty at the rate of thirty percent per annum, on the amount due from it, for the time it shall continue in default; said penalty to be recovered by an action of debt, in the name of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

If any officer, agent or employee of any street railway company within the City of Baltimore shall knowingly, wilfully and corruptly certify to the Board of Park Commissioners a less sum than is actually due as the park tax of nine per centum of the gross receipts from the lines of such company within the City limits, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall suffer imprisonment for not more than six months in jail, or pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both, in the discretion of the Court.

Wherever any local law for Baltimore City requires the consent of the General Assembly of Maryland for the laying of any railway track in or upon any street within the City of Baltimore, it shall be sufficient if authority to lay or construct such track is granted by an ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.

There is hereby imposed upon every corporation occupying with railroad or street railway track or tracks any portion of any public highway in Baltimore City which shall hereafter be paved or repaved with improved paving by the Paving Commission of Baltimore City, the State Roads Commission, the City Engineer, the Annex Improvement Commission, or any other public commission, board or agency, the obligation to pay for the cost of such paving within the space covered by any such railroad or railway track or tracks and for a distance of two feet outside of each outer rail of such track or tracks. The cost of the paving, as herein used, shall be construed to include the cost of the removal of the old cobble or other paving, and all excavation, ballasting, grading, concreting and other work involved in such paving. This obligation shall apply whether the entire street be paved with the same kind of improved paving or whether one kind be put outside of the railway area and a different kind within the railway area, provided, no more expensive material or construction be used in the railway area than is reasonably necessary, in the judgment of the Paving Commission or other agency doing such paving, for the proper construction of the paving of the entire street. The Paving Commission, or other public agency, having in charge the construction of such paving, may permit said corporation to do any part of the work within the railway area which said Commission or other agency may consider can be done by said corporation without detriment to the public welfare or the proper progress of the work. In order to give such corporation an opportunity to do any part or parts of the work which it may be authorized to do by said Commission or other agency, the said Commission or other agency, before beginning work upon any portion of a street occupied by a railroad or railway track or tracks, shall give to the corporation owning, operating and using such track or tracks reasonable notice of its intention to do such work and of the time when it proposes to begin such work on such street. The said Commission or other agency, shall an accurate account of the cost of the work the obligation to pay for which is imposed by this subheading upon any corporation.

The obligation hereby imposed shall be a lien upon the property of such corporation to the same extent as ordinary taxes against the property of such corporation, and may be enforced and collected by the same remedies used for the enforcement and collection of taxes, and payment thereof may be enforced by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore by a suit at law or by any other remedy provided by any law or ordinance, and appropriate for said purpose. All said remedies shall be cumulative. The City, through its Paving Commission, or other Commission, board or agency doing such paving, may pay the cost of the paving in the railway or railroad area in the first instance, and in that event the said cost when paid by the railway or railroad corporation shall be credited to the fund from which the cost of said paving shall have been paid in the first instance; and the amount of the cost shall be due and payable for the work done in the railway area in any street or portion of a street embraced in each separate contract or separate undertaking of construction by said Paving Commission or other agency, upon the completion of such work. Provided, that no corporation shall be required to pay under or by virtue of the provisions of this subheading more than $100,000 during any one year. If the cost of the work for which any corporation is made liable under this subheading shall exceed $100,000 in any one year, the excess above $100,000 shall not be due and payable until the following year; the intent of this proviso being that the entire obligation imposed by this subheading shall be paid by every corporation upon which it is imposed, but that no corporation shall be called on to pay more than $100,000 thereof in any one year.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to relieve any street railway or railroad corporation of any obligation existing or imposed upon it by any law or ordinance prior to March 10, 1914.

In the event that the existing street railway franchises, easements, interests or rights of the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore <em>{&gt;Baltimore Transit Company &gt; Mass Transit Administration}</em> in any of the roads within the limits of that part of Baltimore City known as the Annex as to which roads the said Street Railway Company is not legally liable to the payment of the park tax hereinafter mentioned or in any part or parts of said roads or any of them, shall in any manner, be acquired by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore pursuant to the authority conferred upon it by Chapter 274 of the Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland for the year 1904 and ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore No, 216, approved March 11, 1905, or by any other laws or ordinances relating to the powers and duties of the Commissioners for Opening Streets under said Acts, and application or applications shall afterward be made by the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore, to the Mayor and the City Council of Baltimore, subject to the provisions of Sections 7 to 12, both inclusive, and Section 37 of <cite>this article</cite> for the franchise or right to use the beds of said roads, or any of them, for its railway lines, and the ordinance or ordinances, making said application, or applications, shall be duly passed by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, then with the consent of the Board of Estimates, expressed in said ordinance or ordinances, the park tax of nine per centum upon the gross receipts of passenger street railway companies in the City of Baltimore, now prescribed and regulated by Sections 609 -612, both inclusive, of <cite>this article</cite>, shall, as to the bed or beds of the public highway or highways covered by said ordinance or ordinances, and for the period of eleven years accounting from the date, or respective dates of passage of said ordinance or ordinances, be payable and paid by the said United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore, its successors and assigns, to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore as follows: For the first three years of said period of eleven years the gross receipts of said company from its lines on the bed or beds of the public highway or highways covered by said ordinance or ordinances, shall be exempt from said park tax as at present, for the fourth year of said period of eleven years they shall be subject to said park tax at the rate of one per centum, for the fifth year to said park tax at the rate of two per centum, for the sixth year to said park tax at the rate of three per centum, for the seventh year to said park tax at the rate of four per centum, for the eighth year to said park tax at the rate of five per centum, for the ninth year to said park tax at the rate of six per centum, for the tenth year to said park tax at the rate of seven per centum, for the eleventh year to said park tax at the rate of eight per centum, and thereafter to said park tax at the general rate of nine per centum each year, as now prescribed and regulated as aforesaid by Sections 609 -612 both inclusive, of <cite>this article</cite>, or at such other rate or rates as may be hereafter prescribed by law; provided, however, that the franchise or right so granted to the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore, its successors and assigns in said roads, or any of them, may in the discretion of the Board of Estimates so far as the same may be now perpetual, be in perpetuity; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed to make perpetual, or to grant in perpetuity, any franchise or right whatsoever (as a franchise or right in perpetuity) which heretofore has not been owned or enjoyed by the said United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore as and for a right perpetual, or franchise or right in perpetuity.

In view of the fact that the beds or parts of the beds, of said roads, or some of them are now occupied by the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore, and its rights in such roadbeds, or parts of roadbeds, are proposed to be acquired by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore for the sole purpose of securing for the public the unconditional use thereof as public highways, the Board of Estimates is hereby authorized, in its discretion, after the acquisition of said roadbeds, or parts of roadbeds, by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, should the United Railways and Electric Company of Baltimore, its successors and assigns, apply for the franchise or right of using any of said roadbeds, or part of roadbeds, for its railway lines, to fix the compensation or compensations, to be paid therefor, without reference to any other application or applications for the same franchises or rights by any other person or corporation, and free from the obligation cast upon it by Section 161 of <cite>this article</cite>, to fix the compensation to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore in such cases at the largest amount that it may be able by advertisement or otherwise to obtain for the franchise or right; provided, however, that said compensation or compensations shall in no case be fixed by said Board of Estimates at a lower sum or sums than the sum or sums which the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore shall have paid, or become obliged to pay, unto said company, whether as the result of condemnation proceedings or otherwise, under the provisions of Chapter 274 of the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland for the year 1904, for the purpose of acquiring the respective street railway franchises, easements, interests or rights now or hereafter possessed or enjoyed by said company in said respective roadbeds, or parts of roadbeds as to which said application or applications for new franchises or rights shall or may be made by said company as aforesaid.