Title 23, Public Utilities and Regulated Industries

When consignors ship goods consigned to order, but express in their bills of lading or shipping directions the name of the person to notify at the destination, it shall be the duty of the railroad company to give legal notice to that party in the same way and under the same rule …

(a) All package freight unloaded by railroad companies in their depots and warehouses and all freight unloaded in the yard space of a railroad company in order to release cars and which has not been removed by the owner thereof from the custody of the railroad company within fort…

(a) (1) Loaded cars containing fertilizers, hay, coal, coke, brick, sand, and lumber in covered cars and cars containing, in bulk, meat, potatoes, grain and grain products, or cottonseed and cottonseed hulls, taking track delivery, which are to be unloaded by consignee but, havin…

Whenever the weather, during the period of free time, is so severe, inclement, or rainy that it is impossible or impracticable to secure means of loading or unloading freight, or when, from the nature of the goods, loading or unloading would cause injury or damage, then additiona…

A consignee or a consignor five (5) miles or more from the depot whose freight is destined to or from his or her place of business or residence so located shall not be subject to storage or demurrage charges allowed in this section, §§ 23-10-412 — 23-10-425, and 23-10-427 — 23-10…

Incoming carload freight coming under the provisions of §§ 23-10-425 and 23-10-426 may be stored by railroad companies in depots or warehouses at the expense of the owner if the freight is not removed before demurrage charges attach. However, the daily storage charge on the freig…

(a) If a consignee refuses to accept freight tendered in pursuance of the bill of lading, the carrier charged with the duty of delivery shall give legal notice to the consignor of the refusal. If the consignor does not, within three (3) days thereafter, give directions for reship…

(a) Any railroad employee who demands or receives from any shipper extra pay over and above the legal freight rate for placing or furnishing cars for the shipment of freight is guilty of a violation and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars (…

All forfeitures, charges, and demurrage that accrue to either shipper or railroad company under this section and §§ 23-10-402, 23-10-403, 23-10-405, 23-10-406, 23-10-409 — 23-10-429 and 23-10-431 may be recovered in any court having jurisdiction.

(a) In all actions at law against any railroad company, its assignees, lessees, or other persons owning or operating any railroad in this state or partly in this state, for the violation of the provisions of this section and §§ 23-10-402, 23-10-403, 23-10-405, 23-10-406, and 23-1…

It shall be deemed, prima facie, a reasonable time within which to order cars that any shipper shall give notice thereof to the station agent at the place of shipment, or in his or her absence to the nearest station agent of the railroad company to which the application is made, …

(a) In no event shall any railroad company be required to furnish any cars to a connecting line except to exchange for other cars reasonably suitable for the transportation of freight. (b) No railroad company shall be compelled to furnish its own cars to any other railroad compan…

(a) Every railroad company that, in violation of any of the provisions of this section and §§ 23-10-401, 23-10-432, 23-10-433, 23-10-435 — 23-10-437, and 23-12-605, fails to furnish any cars for the shipment of any freight within a reasonable time or, in case of the shipment of f…

(a) Every railroad company using cars of another railroad company, or cars which have been delivered to it by the other railroad company, shall be liable to the party entitled thereto to pay for the reasonable use and hire thereof and for injury or damages to or destruction of th…

(a) (1) Every railroad company which willfully, by its own gross negligence or by the gross negligence of its agents having charge and management of the matter of furnishing cars, fails or refuses to furnish or exchange cars as provided for in this section and §§ 23-10-401, 23-10…

(a) The Arkansas Department of Transportation is authorized and empowered, as to all freight carried wholly within this state and the cars used therefor:(1) To make and establish all needful rules, general and special, which may be different according to the circumstances and con…

(a) (1) When a shipper makes a written application to a station agent of a railroad company doing business in this state for cars, to be loaded with any kind of perishable freight such as fruit and vegetables, embraced in the tariff of the company, stating the character of the fr…

(a) When cars have been delivered to the shipper as provided for by § 23-10-438, he or she shall have twenty-four (24) hours from 7:00 a.m. of the day following the receipt of the cars in which to load cars. (b) (1) After the expiration of the free time as provided for in this se…

(a) (1) Whenever freight of a character similar to that described in § 23-10-438 is tendered to a railroad company in carload lots or less, and the correct shipping instruction is given, the railroad agent must immediately receive the freight for shipment and issue bills of ladin…

(a) When any railroad company or corporation doing business within the limits of this state receives and ships any livestock or poultry by the carload, the company or corporation, in consideration of the price paid for the car, shall pass the shipper or his or her employee to and…

(a) All railroad companies, private companies, or individuals owning or operating a railroad in the State of Arkansas are required to furnish a sufficient number of double-decked cars for the shipment of sheep or hogs to supply the demand for such cars on their respective lines. …

(a) All persons and corporations owning or operating a railroad in the State of Arkansas are required to furnish cars and equip them with grain-tight doors for shipment of grain in bulk and by the carload. (b) All persons and corporations owning or operating railroads in this sta…

(a) All railroads operating in this state are required to keep and maintain track or railroad scales at all stations or depots where as many as one hundred (100) cars of coal, corn, or cottonseed are received annually by the railroad. (b) The railroads are required, at the reques…

(a) At all stations at which scales are required to be maintained for the weighing of coal, it shall be the duty of the railroad company to properly weigh each car of coal after the car has been loaded and to furnish to each shipper by written certificate of the weighman, within …

It is made the duty of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, on complaint, to enforce by necessary order any or all laws of this state pertaining to railroads and express companies.

(a) All railroad, street, interurban, or other transportation companies organized under the laws of this state shall pay the following incorporation fees:(1) On all lines not exceeding twenty-five (25) miles in length, one hundred dollars ($100); and(2) On lines exceeding twenty-…

(a) It is the duty of every person or corporation operating any railroad or express company in this state to make annual returns of the business of the railroad or express company to the Arkansas Department of Transportation. (b) (1) The returns shall embrace all receipts and exp…

(a) (1) The Arkansas Department of Transportation shall ascertain as early as practicable the amount of money expended in the construction and equipment per mile of every railroad in Arkansas, the amount of money expended to procure the right-of-way, and the amount of money it wo…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Railroad Incorporation Act of 1959”.

(a) For purposes of this subchapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Department” means the Arkansas Department of Transportation or such other department as may be created or established for the purpose of regulation of common carriers in the State of Arkansas; and(2) …

(a) The articles of incorporation of any contemplated railroad corporation shall contain all of the information prescribed for inclusion in the application to be filed with the Arkansas Department of Transportation by § 23-11-204. However, it shall not be necessary that the artic…

(1) Any number of persons, not fewer than three (3), being subscribers of the stock of any contemplated railroad corporation and desiring to form a railroad corporation under the laws of this state, may do so by first filing an application with the Arkansas Department of Transpor…

(a) Promptly after the filing of an application for the organization of a railroad corporation, the Arkansas Department of Transportation, under and in accordance with rules and regulations to be established by the department, shall set a date for a hearing upon the application a…

Upon the payment of the fees prescribed by law, the Secretary of State shall issue to the corporation a charter granting unto it perpetual existence in accordance with its articles of incorporation unless a limited term of existence shall be provided for in the articles.

(a) Certified copies of the articles of incorporation together with copies of the charter issued by the Secretary of State and the order of the Arkansas Department of Transportation shall be filed in the office of the county clerk of each county through which the proposed line sh…

(1) When the charter and articles of incorporation shall have been filed as provided in §§ 23-11-205 and 23-11-207, the persons who shall have signed and acknowledged the articles of incorporation and their successors shall be a body politic and corporate by the name stated in th…

(1) Every such corporation shall possess the general powers and be subject to the general liabilities and restrictions expressed in the special powers following, that is to say:(1) To cause such examinations and surveys by their officers, agents, and servants for the proposed rai…

(a) As soon as practicable after the charter and articles of incorporation shall have been filed in the office of the Secretary of State and in the offices of the county clerk as provided by other provisions of this subchapter, the subscribers of the articles of incorporation sha…

(a) Every railroad corporation incorporated under the laws of this state shall prescribe in its bylaws the time for holding an annual meeting of the stockholders of the corporation for the purpose of electing directors and the transaction of such other business as may be necessar…

(a) (1) The owner of any share of any railroad corporation organized under the law of this state may vote in person or by proxy at any meeting of the stockholders.(2) The owner of record of the stock as reflected by the stock records of the corporation at the time of the meeting …

(a) The directors of every railroad corporation shall have the power to make bylaws, and the bylaws shall provide for a board of directors composed of not fewer than three (3) persons. (b) (1) Directors shall be chosen at the stockholders' meeting by ballot and by a majority of t…

(a) Except as may be otherwise provided by law or by the bylaws, a majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. (b) The board of directors shall hold one (1) regular annual meeting within or without the State of Arkansas on the date fixed by th…

The management of the affairs of the corporation shall be vested in the board of directors, and, subject only to the limitations provided by law or by its articles, the board shall have full control over the affairs of the corporation and may authorize the exercise of all of its …

In addition to the rights and powers conferred on railroad corporations by their charters and the laws of this state, the directors are authorized and empowered, by and with the consent or approval of a majority of the stockholders, to cause to be issued and executed, bonds or ot…

(a) (1) The board of directors are also empowered to declare and pay dividends to the stockholders.(2) Dividends may be declared and paid by the board of directors, either in cash, in tangible or intangible choses in action or property, or in stock, subject to such restrictions a…

(a) The board of directors shall select the officers of the corporation. (b) There shall be:(1) A president of the company, who shall be chosen by and from the directors;(2) Such committees of the board of directors vested with such authority and powers as may be fixed by resolut…