§ 16. Location of route. Every railroad corporation, except a street surface railroad corporation and an elevated railroad corporation, before constructing any part of its road in any county of this state, or instituting any proceedings for the condemnation of real property therein, shall make a map and profile of the route adopted by it in such county, certified by the president and engineer of the corporation, or a majority of the directors, and file them in the office of the clerk of the county in which the road is to be made. The corporation shall give written notice to all actual occupants of the lands over which the route of the road is so designated, and which has not been purchased by or given to it, of the time and place such map and profile were filed, and that such route passes over the lands of such occupants. Any such occupant or the owner of the land aggrieved by the proposed location, may, within fifteen days after receiving such notice, give ten days' written notice to such corporation and to the owners or occupants of lands to be affected by any proposed alteration, of the time and place of an application to a justice of the supreme court, in the judicial district where the lands are situated, by petition duly verified, for the appointment of commissioners to examine the route.

The petition shall state the objections to the route designated, shall designate the route to which it is proposed to alter the same, and shall be accompanied with a survey, map and profile of the route designated by the corporation, and of the proposed alteration thereof, and copies thereof shall be served upon the corporation and such owners or occupants with the notice of the application. The justice may, upon the hearing of the application, appoint three disinterested persons, one of whom must be a practical civil engineer, commissioners to examine the route proposed by the corporation, and the route to which it is proposed to alter the same, and after hearing the parties, to affirm the route originally designated, or adopt the proposed alteration thereof, as may be consistent with the just rights of all parties and the public, including the owners or occupants of lands upon the proposed alterations; but no alteration of the route shall be made except by the concurrence of the commissioner who is a practical civil engineer, nor which will cause greater damage or injury to lands or materially greater length of road than the route designated by the corporation, nor which shall substantially change the general line adopted by the corporation.

The commissioners shall, within thirty days after their appointment make and certify their written determination, which with the petition, map, survey and profile, and any testimony taken before them shall be immediately filed in the office of the county clerk of the county. Within twenty days after such filing, any party may, by written notice to the other, appeal to the appellate division of the supreme court from the decision of the commissioners, which appeal shall be heard and decided at the next term held in the department in which the lands of the petitioners or any of them are situated, for which the same can be noticed, according to the rules and practice of the court. On the hearing of such appeal, the court may affirm the route proposed by the corporation or may adopt that proposed by the petitioner.

The commissioners shall each be entitled to six dollars per day for their services, and to their reasonable and necessary expenses, to be paid by the persons who applied for their appointment. If the route of the road, as designated by the corporation, is altered by the commissioners, or by the order of the court, the corporation shall refund to the petitioner the amount so paid, unless the decision of the commissioners is reversed upon appeal taken by the corporation. No such corporation shall institute any proceedings for the condemnation of real property in any county until after the expiration of fifteen days from the service by it of the notice required by this section. Every such corporation shall transmit to the commission the following maps, profiles and drawings exhibiting the characteristics of its road, to wit:

A map or maps showing the length and direction of each straight line; the length and radius of each curve; the point of crossing of each town and county line, and the length of the line in each town and county accurately determined by measurements to be taken after the completion of the road.

Whenever any part of the road is completed and used, such maps and profiles of such completed part shall be filed with the commission within three months after the completion of any such portion and the commencement of its operation; and when any additional portion of the road shall be completed and used, other maps shall be filed within the same period of time, showing the additional parts so completed. If the route, as located upon the map and profile filed in the office of any county clerk, shall have been changed, it shall also cause a copy of the map and profile filed in the office of the commission, so far as it may relate to the location in such county, to be filed in the office of the county clerk.