Title 49, Public Utilities

Any public utility affected shall be entitled to be heard and to introduce evidence at such hearing. The commission is empowered to resort to any other source of information available. The evidence introduced at such hearing shall be reduced to writing and certified under the sea…

The findings of the commission, as made and filed, when properly certified by the commission, shall be admissible as evidence in any proceeding or hearing before the commission or any court in which the commission, the state, or any officer, department, or institution thereof, or…

The commission, upon the making of a valuation, shall: 1. Keep itself informed through its experts and other assistants of all extensions and improvements or other changes in the conditions and value of the property of the public utility; 2. Ascertain the value of such extensions…

The commission from time to time may cause any further hearing and investigation to be had for the purpose of making a revaluation or ascertaining the value of any betterments, improvements, additions, or extensions made by a public utility subsequent to any hearing or investigat…

No order for valuation or revaluation shall be made more than once in every three years after a determination of value has become final. This limitation, however, shall not apply to proceedings to determine past excess earnings for refunding purposes.

The commission may not increase electric rates as a result of actions taken by other states requiring higher cost resources to be built, purchased, or otherwise acquired as a result of the application of quantified environmental externality values, as defined in section 49-02-23,…

Any person who violates or fails to comply with any provision of this title, or who fails, omits, or neglects to obey, observe, or comply with any order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or any part or provision thereof, in a case in wh…

Any person who violates any statute, commission order, or commission rule which applies to matters within the authority of the commission under chapters 8-08, 8-09, 8-10, and 24-09, titles 60 and 64, and title 49 except for chapters 49-22, 49-22.1, and 49-23, in addition to any o…

In construing and enforcing the provisions of this title relating to penalties, the act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or employee of any public utility, acting within the scope of that person's official duties or employment, in every case shall be deemed to be the …

Any person who violates a rule or order of the commission pursuant to section 49-02-01.2 is subject to a civil penalty to be imposed by the commission of not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars for each violation for each day that the violation continues, except that the maxim…

All penalties accruing under this title shall be cumulative and a suit for the recovery of one penalty shall not: 1. Bar nor affect the recovery of any other penalty or forfeiture; nor 2. Bar any criminal prosecution against any public utility or any officer, manager, director, g…

Every railroad corporation duly organized under the laws of any state or territory, or of the United States, and authorized to build and operate a railroad within this state, which shall have filed with the secretary of state a copy of its articles of incorporation, properly cert…

Whenever any school or state lands are taken for railway purposes as provided in section 49-09-01, the railway corporation taking such lands shall pay to the state treasurer the appraised value thereof but in no case any sum less than ten dollars per acre [.40 hectare] for all su…

Any railway company desiring to secure the benefits of section 49-09-01, within ninety days after the definite location of its road across any section of such lands, shall file in the office of the board of university and school lands a plat of such section of land, showing the l…

If any railway corporation appropriating any public lands by virtue of section 49-09-01 at any time shall abandon the use thereof for railway purposes for a period of one year, the same shall revert to the state.

1. When service is discontinued on any railroad right of way in the state and the property is offered for sale, lease, exchange, or other disposal by the railroad or an affiliated entity, the property must first be offered to the following persons in the order of priority as foll…

Unless otherwise allowed by the commission, any railroad corporation abandoning the use of any railway line in this state shall remove and clear all rail, ties, materials, supplies, and debris from the railway line and leave the surface in a condition easily traversable by a moto…

A railway corporation or railroad holding company having identified a railroad line in North Dakota for abandonment pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 10904(e)(2)(B) shall provide the commission or its designated representatives with access to all records directly relating to the railroad lin…

Whenever the persons securing title under a trust deed or mortgage foreclosure sale shall own or represent a majority in amount of the bonds or other evidences of debt secured by any such trust deed or mortgage, and also shall include the persons who owned a majority in amount of…

1. Each carrier or other entity intending to acquire, lease, or transfer an operating railroad right of way shall file a notice of intent to do so with the commission, if any of the following applies: a. The acquisition or lease would be by a party that is not a railroad carrier …

If railroad corporations cannot agree upon an adjustment and the amount of compensation to be paid for the purchase of necessary change of location and removal of any track previously laid, the same shall be ascertained and determined and the common, mutual, and separate rights s…

Every such conveyance, lease, deed of trust, or mortgage, made by a public utility which covers any real property other than that used by such public utility as a right of way for its railway, telecommunications lines, or gas or oil pipelines, also must, in order to obtain the pr…

The governing board of any municipal corporation may grant to any person who is a resident of this state, to any corporation or limited liability company organized under the laws of this state, or to any corporation or limited liability company licensed to do business within this…

In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Public railroad crossing" means a location where a public highway, road, or street, including associated sidewalks or pathways, crosses one or more railroad tracks at grade. The term includes a crossing if a public autho…

Every railroad corporation while engaged in raising or lowering any railroad track or in making any other alterations, by means of which a railroad crossing may be obstructed, shall provide and keep in good order a suitable temporary way and crossing with adequate protection to e…

Every railroad corporation shall maintain and keep in good repair all bridges and their abutments which the corporation shall construct for the purpose of enabling its road to pass over or under any public highway, watercourse, or other way. Railroad corporations which have trans…

When it shall be necessary in the construction of a railroad to erect a bridge or culvert over any public highway or street, it shall be sufficient to construct the same so as to give a clear passageway of twenty feet [6.10 meters] or two passageways of fourteen feet [4.27 meters…

Every corporation constructing, owning, or using a railroad shall restore every stream of water, watercourse, street, highway, or canal across, along, or upon which such railroad may be constructed to its former state or to such condition that its usefulness shall not be material…

1. A public highway-railroad crossing at grade shall be constructed of a grade of earth on one or both sides of the railroad track, as the location may require, for the entire width of the highway grade but in no case less than twenty feet [6.10 meters] in width, the middle point…

The making of an intersecting railroad crossing by a railroad corporation constructing a new railroad shall not be hindered, delayed, nor prevented pending the ascertainment and determination of the compensation to be paid the affected railroad, if said railroad corporation propo…

Every corporation whose railroad shall be intersected by any new railroad shall unite with the owners of such new railroad in forming such intersection and connections and shall grant the facilities provided for in section 49-11-08. If the two corporations cannot agree upon the a…

When any person owns land on both sides of any railroad and contiguous to the railway, the corporation or individual owning or operating such railway shall make and keep in good repair a proper cattle guard and causeway or other adequate means of crossing such railway at such rea…

Subject to the provisions of section 49-11-03, a railroad corporation shall have the power to: 1. Construct its railroad across, along, or up any stream of water, watercourse, street, highway, riverfront, steamboat, or other public landing, or canal which its route shall intersec…

1. A person may not operate any train in a manner as to prevent vehicular use of any roadway for a period of time in excess of ten consecutive minutes except: a. When necessary to comply with safety signals affecting the safety of the movement of trains; b. When necessary to avoi…

Any person operating a train who shall block or obstruct a public railroad crossing and who has the alternative of blocking or obstructing a crossing with active grade crossing traffic control devices or a crossing without such device shall, where feasible, and subject to the exc…

Whenever it shall appear that owing to any construction work or repair work, or for any other cause, an unusual number of trains are being operated in or through any city in this state, the commission, upon complaint by the governing body of such city through its chief executive …

1. A warning device must be placed on each locomotive engine and the device on the lead locomotive must be sounded when approaching a public railroad crossing, and must continue to be sounded until the locomotive enters the public railroad crossing. 2. The warning device may not …

1. A railroad that has operational control of a locomotive that fails to sound its warning device at any crossing as required by section 49-11-21 is guilty of an infraction. 2. If a crew member of a locomotive does not sound a warning device at a crossing for which the sounding o…

Every locomotive engineer who does not cause a warning device to be sounded as required by section 49-11-21 shall be guilty of an infraction.

1. Every owner or lessee of land abutting any operating railroad's right of way who has a legal fence, as defined in section 47-26-01, along all sides of the land except the side abutting the right of way may make a written request of the owners or operators of the railroad to co…

A fence required under the provisions of section 49-11-24 shall be constructed as follows: 1. Good posts shall be set in the ground firmly, and such posts shall be not more than twenty feet [6.10 meters] apart. 2. There shall be securely fastened to such posts not less than four …

Every owner or lessee of a tract of land abutting upon any railroad or railway, or through which any railroad or railway has been or may be constructed, who has built a hog-tight fence along all sides of such land, except the side abutting against the railroad right of way, may d…

A fence built pursuant to a demand made under section 49-11-26 shall be constructed as follows: 1. The fence shall be not less than twenty-six inches [66.04 centimeters] high. 2. The woven wire shall have not less than seven cables and the meshes therein shall not exceed six inch…

Upon the written request of the owner or lessee of land abutting the railroad's right of way, the owners or operators of a railroad shall construct and maintain suitable and safe swinging gates on any side of a private crossing enclosed by the railroad under section 49-11-24. The…

Any person owning or operating any line of railroad within this state and refusing or neglecting to comply with sections 49-11-24 through 49-11-28 is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. A prosecution or conviction under sections 49-11-24 through 49-11-28 does not relieve such person…

Any corporation operating a railroad and failing to fence the same against livestock running at large where the duty to fence exists is liable to the owner of any stock killed or injured by reason of the want of such fence for the full amount of the damages sustained by the owner…