Ala. Code § 37-2-31
Every transportation company subject to the provisions of this chapter, its agents or officers, whose duty it is to receive freights, shall receive all articles of the nature and kind received by said companies for transportation whenever tendered at a regular station at proper hours and in good shipping condition, according to reasonable rules prescribed by the transportation company or the Public Service Commission, and every loaded car tendered at a sidetrack or any warehouse connected with the railroad by a siding, and shall forward the same without delay and within a reasonable time to the point of destination, under and in compliance with such reasonable rules, regulations and requirements as may be prescribed by the Public Service Commission or by law, and, upon the failure of any such railroad company or other transportation company doing business in this state to so receive and so transport goods, merchandise, or property of any description delivered to it for shipment to and from any points within the state in such reasonable time as the public service commission or the law may prescribe, unless otherwise agreed upon between the company and the shipper, or unless such property is burned, stolen or otherwise destroyed, such railroad company or other transportation company shall forfeit to the party aggrieved such sum as may now or hereafter be prescribed by law for such delay, and, in addition, shall be liable to the party aggrieved for such damages as he may sustain by reason of said delay, failure to receive or transport.
Ala. Code § 37-2-31 (1975)