A writ of mandamus to compel a railroad corporation to do a particular act in constructing its road or buildings, or in running its trains, can be issued only when there is a specific legal duty on its part to do that act, and clear proof of a breach of that duty.
If, as in Railroad v. Hall, 91 U.S. 343, the charter of a railroad corporation expressly requires it to maintain its railroad as a continuous line, it may be compelled to do so by mandamus. So if the charter requires the corporation to construct its road and to run its cars to a certain point on tide-water, (as was held to be the case in State v. Railroad, 29 Conn. 538,) and it has so constructed its road and used it for years, it may be compelled to continue to do so. And mandamus will lie to compel a corporation to build a bridge in accordance with an express requirement of statute. Railway v. Mississippi, 112 U.S. 12, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 19; People v. Railroad, 70 N. Y. 569.
But if the charter of a railroad corporation simply authorizes the corporation, without requiring it, to construct and maintain a railroad to a certain point, it has been held that it cannot be compelled by mandamus to complete or to maintain its road to that point when it would not be remunerative. Railway Co. v. Queen, 1 El. & Bl. 858; Id. 874; Com. v. Railroad, 12 Gray, 180; State v. Railroad, 18 Minn. 40, (Gil. 21.)
The difficulties in the way of issuing a mandamus to compel the maintenance of a railroad and the running of trains to a terminus fixed by the charter itself are much increased when it is sought to compel the corporation to establish or to maintain a station and to stop its trains at a particular place on the line of its road. The location of stations and warehouses for receiving and delivering passengers and freight involves a comprehensive view of the interests of the public, as well as of the corporation and its stockholders, and a consideration of many circumstances concerning the amount of population and business at or near or within convenient access to one point or another, which are more appropriate to be determined by the directors, or, in case of abuse of their discretion, by the legislature, or by administrative boards in trusted by the legislature with that duty, than by the ordinary judicial tribunals.
The defendant's charter, after authorizing and empowering it to locate, construct, and maintain a continuous railroad 'by the most eligible route, as shall be determined by said company,' within limits described in the broadest way, both as to the terminal points and as to the course and direction of the road, and vesting it with 'all the powers, privileges, and immunities necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act as herein set forth,' enacts that the road 'shall be constructed in a substantial and workman-like manner, with all the necessary draws, culverts, bridges, viaducts, crossings, turnouts, stations, and watering places, and all other appurtenances.' The words last quoted are but a general expression of what would be otherwise implied by law, and cover all structures of every kind needed for the completion and maintenance of the railroad. They cannot be construed as imposing any specific duty, or as controlling the discretion in these respects of a corporation intrusted with such large discretionary powers upon the more important questions of the course and the termini of its road. The contrast between these general words and the specific requirements, which follow in the same section, that the rails shall be manufactured from American iron, and that 'a uniform gauge shall be established throughout the entire length of the road,' is significant.
To hold that the directors of this corporation, in determining the number, place, and size of its stations and other structures, having regard to the public convenience as well as to its own pecuniary interest, can be controlled by the courts by writ of mandamus, would be inconsistent with many decisions of high authority in analogous cases.