Chapter CXCVII. *authorizing the Extension of the Alexandria and Washington Railroad into the District of Columbia, and conferring certain Privileges on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.* Aug. 3, 1854. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem
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Chap. CXCVII.— An Act *authorizing the Extension of the Alexandria and Washington Railroad into the District of Columbia, and conferring certain Privileges on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.* Aug. 3, 1854. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the Alexandria and Extension into tho District of Columbia authorized.Washington Railroad Company, incorporated by the legislature of Virginia, on the twenty-seventh of February, eighteen hundred and fifty four, to construct a railroad from Alexandria, in the State of Virginia, to the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, be, and are hereby, authorized to extend their road from any point on the Virginia side of the Potomac River to which said road may be constructed, at or above the aqueduct of the Alexandria Canal, into the District of Columbia, connecting with the Baltimore and Washington Railroad depot by the most convenient and practicable route or routes, passing through and along such streets or avenues, except the Pennsylvania Avenue of Washington and Georgetown, as the corporate authorities thereof may respectively approve, subject to certain provisions hereinafter expressed.
Bridge across the Potomac. Section 2. *And be it further enacted,* That the Alexandria and Washington Railroad Company are hereby authorized to construct a bridge over the Potomac River, on, or above, or west of the aqueduct of the Alexandria Canal Company: *Provided,* said bridge shall only be built on or over the piers of the aqueduct, with the consent of the Alexandria Canal Company: *And provided further,* in constructing said bridge, and THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 197. 1854. 811crossing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, said bridge and railroad shall be so constructed as not to injure or obstruct the use or navigation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal: *And provided further,* That this act shall not prevent Congress from giving like privileges to any other railroad company or any other person.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the Alexandria and Washington Construction and location of depots and branches in Washington and Georgetown.Railroad Company are hereby authorized to establish depots in the cities of Washington and Georgetown at such points as the corporate authorities thereof may respectively approve, and to lay a railroad track or tracks to such point or points within said cities, and through and along such streets and avenues, except the Pennsylvania Avenue, of said cities, as may be respectively approved of by the corporate authorities of said cities, and to make all necessary turnouts; the said railroad company being subject to such terms, conditions, restrictions, and taxation, and to such rules and regulations, relative to the construction, repairs, and working of their road, within the cities of Washington and Georgetown, as the corporate authorities of said cities may from time to time respectively prescribe, so far as-it may lay within their respective limits: *Provided,* no higher rate Taxation.of taxation shall he imposed upon said railroad company than is prescribed by the respective charters of said cities; and said railroad company shall keep an office within the city of Washington or Georgetown, and shall Office to be kept in Washington or Georgetown.
Process.have power to sue and be sued, to make contracts, and to purchase and hold lands so far as may be necessary for carrying on the operations of the company, and the service of process on the president or any director of said company, or on the chief clerk in attendance at the office of the company, shall entitle any party complaining to proceed against said company Powers.as authorized under the laws of the District of Columbia to proceed against chartered companies within its limits.
Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company be, and it is hereby authorized to construct and extend Extension of Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio R. R.the Washington branch of said road, according to such route as may be most convenient, through the said District to some point on the Potomac River, opposite to or near the city of Alexandria, in Virginia, for the purpose of forming a connection with the said river and the lines of railroads running south, subject to the provisions of its present charter; and the said company are hereby authorized to locate, construct, and operate the said extension, hereby authorized, through such parts of the city of Washington, or public reservations, as the corporate authorities thereof, or the President of the United States, respectively, may consent to; and also to build a bridge or bridges over the Eastern branch of the Potomac River, at some point above the navy-yard: *Provided, however,* That the same shall net obstruct the navigation thereof.
And said company shall Provisos.have power to locate and establish depots, and erect the necessary buildings thereon, and also to erect such wharves or piers into said river as may be necessary, provided the same shall not obstruct the navigation thereof: *Provided, further,* That the said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company be subject to the same conditions and restrictions in extending their road through any parts of the city of Washington, as are prescribed for the Alexandria and Washington Railroad Company: *Provided, however,* That this section shall remain suspended for two years, from the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and if at the end of that time, the Alexandria and Washington Railroad Company shall not have completed a railroad to Alexandria, and have the same in good running order, in pursuance of the requirements of the preceding sections of this hill, then the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company shall have the privilege of extending their road by either of the routes authorized by this act: *And provided further,* That if said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company shall not have executed so much of the provisions of this act 812 THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 203. 1854.as relates to their company by the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, then this act shall be void. Approved, August 3, 1854.