2006 New York Code - Certificate Of Convenience And Necessity.

 
    § 9. Certificate of convenience and necessity. No railroad corporation
  formed  after May eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, under the
  laws of this state shall exercise the powers conferred by law upon  such
  corporations  or  begin the construction of its road until the directors
  shall cause a copy of the original certificate of  incorporation  to  be
  published  in one or more newspapers in each county in which the road is
  proposed to be located, at least once a week for three successive weeks,
  and shall file satisfactory proof thereof  with  the  commissioner;  nor
  until  the commissioner shall certify that the foregoing conditions have
  been complied with, and also that public  convenience  and  a  necessity
  require   the   construction  of  said  railroad  as  proposed  in  said
  certificate of incorporation. The foregoing certificate shall be applied
  for  within  six  months  after  the  completion  of  the  three  weeks'
  publication  hereinbefore  provided  for. If a certificate is refused no
  further proceedings shall be  had  before  said  commissioner,  but  the
  application may be renewed after one year from the date of such refusal.
  Prior  to  granting  or refusing said certificate the commissioner shall
  have a right to permit errors, omissions or defects to be  supplied  and
  corrected.  After  a  refusal to grant such certificate the commissioner
  shall certify a copy of all maps and papers on file in its office and of
  the findings of the commissioner when  so  requested  by  the  directors
  aforesaid.  Such  directors  may  thereupon  present  the  same  to  the
  appellate division of the supreme court of the department  within  which
  said  road  is  proposed in whole or in part to be constructed, and said
  appellate division shall have power, in its discretion,  to  order  said
  commissioner,  for  reasons  stated,  to  issue said certificate, and it
  shall be issued accordingly. Such certificate  shall  be  filed  in  the
  office of the department of state, and a copy thereof, certified to be a
  copy  by the secretary of state, or his deputy, shall be evidence of the
  fact therein stated. Nothing in this  section  shall  prevent  any  such
  railroad  corporation from causing such examinations and surveys for its
  proposed railroad to be made as may be necessary to the selection of the
  most advantageous route; and for such purpose by its officers or  agents
  and  servants,  entering  upon  the  lands  or  water of any person, but
  subject to the responsibility  for  all  damages  which  shall  be  done
  thereto.    The  certificate  provided  for  in  this  section shall not
  dispense with the permission and approval provided for  in  section  one
  hundred twenty-seven of the transportation law.