Steam railroad companies now operating within the District of Columbia are hereby authorized, after approval of their detailed plans and issuance of a permit by the Mayor of the District of Columbia, to electrify their lines within the District of Columbia and across the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers with an alternating current overhead catenary or other type of electrification system, with all necessary transmission, signal, and communication conductors and equipment, poles, conduits, underground and overhead construction, substations, and any other structures necessary in such electrification, the provisions of any law or laws to the contrary notwithstanding.

(Mar. 27, 1934, 48 Stat. 506, ch. 97, § 1.)

1981 Ed., § 7-1430.

1973 Ed., § 7-1230.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.