Chapter 159

Section 50. Any corporation which owns or operates a railroad, railway, electric railroad or elevated railway shall, upon any increase of its capital stock, except as provided in the following section, offer the new shares proportionately to its stockholders at such price, not le…

Section 51. If such increase does not exceed four per cent of the existing capital stock of the company, the directors, without first offering the same to the stockholders, may sell the shares by auction to the highest bidder, at not less than the par value thereof, to be actuall…

Section 52. The determination by the department, under the provisions of section forty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty and section twenty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty-one, as to the amount of stock which is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which such stoc…

Section 53. In computing the amount of capital stock of a railroad corporation, electric railroad, railway or elevated railway company in order to determine the maximum amount of bonds, coupon notes or other evidences of indebtedness, payable at periods of more than twelve months…

Section 54. A lease or purchase and sale of the franchise and property of a railroad corporation, or railway company, and a consolidation of two or more railroad corporations, or railway companies, or a contract that either corporation or company shall perform all the transportat…

Section 57. A railway shall not be constructed across the tracks of a railroad nor shall a railroad be constructed across the tracks of a railway at the same level therewith without the consent of the department.

Section 58. In any case in which the consent or approval of the department required by law for any crossing at grade is given, it may, after notice to the parties interested and a hearing, impose conditions, limitations, restrictions and regulations relative to such crossing, its…

Section 59. If a public way and a railroad cross each other, and the board of aldermen of the city or the selectmen of the town where the crossing is situated, or the department of highways, if the crossing and its approaches are in direct continuation of a state highway, or the …

Section 6. Such general agent shall give bond to the state treasurer, with one or more sureties to be approved by him, in the sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned that he will accept service of all lawful process against his principal.

Section 60. If it is decided that the location of the railroad or of the way shall be changed, land or other property may be taken therefor by eminent domain on behalf of the railroad corporation, the commonwealth, the county or the city or town, as the case may be, under chapter…

Section 61. A commission of three disinterested persons, appointed as provided in the following section, shall determine which party shall carry such decision into effect and which party shall pay the charges and expenses of making such alteration and the future charges for keepi…

Section 62. Unless the parties in interest agree as provided in section sixty-one, upon application of the county commissioners, the department, the department of highways, the board of aldermen, the selectmen or the directors of the railroad corporation or of the railway company…

Section 63. A party aggrieved by said award may, within fourteen days after the return thereof, apply to the court for a jury to revise and determine any matter of fact found therein; and thereupon the court, after notice to all parties interested, shall order a trial by jury in …

Section 64. The party designated for that duty, having carried into effect the decision made under section fifty-nine, may recover in contract from any other party the proportion awarded to be paid by such other party, with interest; and if the party so designated unreasonably fa…

Section 65. The department of highways shall proceed to make an investigation of crossings where a public or private way and a railroad cross each other at grade, in sections sixty-five to eighty-two, inclusive, referred to as grade crossings. Said department shall annually on or…

Section 7. No person shall act for more than thirty days as such general agent unless the two proceeding sections have been complied with; and whoever so acts without such compliance shall forfeit not more than five hundred dollars.

Section 70. The department of highways shall proceed to consider the abolition of grade crossings in the order established by the program orders as adopted and amended or revised under section sixty-five, and shall hold public hearings on each such grade crossing abolition, due n…

Section 72. Whenever a grade crossing is abolished upon a state highway, county way, or way which has been petitioned for as a state highway, the said highway or way shall be so constructed that there shall be a clear view in each direction for at least one hundred and fifty feet…

Section 73. The amount of any expenditure under section eighty by a street railway company toward the cost of abolishing a grade crossing shall be deemed and taken in all proceedings thereafter as a part of the value of its property for street railway purposes; and such company m…

Section 74. If in an order of abolition under section seventy it is determined that the location of the railroad or of the public or private way shall be changed, such order when a copy thereof is filed with the department of telecommunications and energy shall establish the loca…

Section 75. All damages sustained by any person in his property by the taking of land for or by the alterations of the grade of a public way, or by an abutter thereon by the discontinuance of such public way, to the same extent as damages are recoverable by abutters on ways disco…

Section 76. In any case arising under the preceding section, where any person sustaining damage to his property in the manner therein specified fails to bring a petition within the time limited by chapter seventy-nine, the attorney general may join with the other parties interest…

Section 77. After the completion of the work, the expense of maintenance and repair shall be paid as follows: if the public way crosses the railroad by an overhead bridge, the superstructure and subflooring of the bridge and its abutments or other supports shall be maintained and…

Section 78. All accounts of expense incurred by the railroad corporations or the city or town shall from time to time be submitted to the department of highways which shall audit the same, including any expense incurred by the commonwealth for or in connection with a state highwa…

Section 79. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce compliance with sections sixty-five to eighty-two, inclusive, and with the orders and agreements made thereunder. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity to review, modify, amend or a…

Section 8. Whoever, with intent to defraud or injure in his business a person licensed by any town as a carrier of goods for hire, takes from the order box of such carrier or effaces or destroys any order to or direction for such carrier to call for and receive goods to be transp…

Section 80. If the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town where a public way and a railroad cross each other and the directors of the railroad corporation deem it necessary for the security and convenience of the public that alteration should be made in such cross…

Section 82. Sections fifty-nine to sixty-four, inclusive, of this chapter and sections one hundred and eight, one hundred and eleven, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirteen and two hundred and fifty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty, so far as they relate to proceedi…

Section 83. Every railroad corporation and railway company shall, upon request of the department, and at least once in two years, cause an examination of its tracks and roadbed and of its tunnels and bridges and of the approaches thereto to be made by a competent engineer, who sh…

Section 84. If the county commissioners of a county, the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town where a bridge at the crossing of a public way and a railroad, or a bridge upon which a railway company is authorized to lay and use tracks, is located in whole or in p…

Section 85. If railroad corporations, railway companies, counties, cities, towns, or any of them, jointly or severally, are charged with the duty of maintaining or repairing any such bridge under any provision of law, agreement, or decree of court, and if the parties so charged w…

Section 86. Seven or more persons, a majority of whom are residents of the commonwealth, being employees of any railroad, railway or steamboat corporation, organized under the laws of the commonwealth, may form a corporation under chapter one hundred and eighty for the purpose of…

Section 87. The by-laws of such corporation shall be approved by the department, and shall prescribe the manner in which, and the officers and agents by whom, the purpose of its incorporation may be carried out, and also the manner in which its property may be invested. Such corp…

Section 88. A railroad corporation operating a railroad or portion thereof in the commonwealth, or a railway company, may, by vote of its directors, associate itself with seven or more of its employees in forming a corporation under section eighty-six, or may, upon the invitation…

Section 9. Sections one hundred and ninety-three, two hundred and six and two hundred and thirty-three of chapter one hundred and sixty shall apply to steamboat lines within the commonwealth and to persons who are engaged or who desire to engage in the express business thereon.

Section 92. Special police officers appointed by the colonel of state police under the provisions of section fifty-one of chapter twenty-two C shall, when on duty except as detectives, wear in plain sight a metallic badge, inscribed with the words, ''Railroad Special Police'', ''…

Section 93. Railroad, railway, railway express or steamboat police officers may preserve order on the premises, cars, vehicles, vessels and boats of the corporation or company upon whose petition they are appointed and at the wharves and landing places owned or used by such carri…

Section 94. The person so arrested by railroad, railway or railway express police officers shall be taken to the police station or other place of lawful detention in the city or town where the arrest is made, or in the city or town where the car, vehicle, boat or vessel next stop…

Section 95. Railroad, railway, railway express and steamboat police officers shall be paid by the corporation or company upon whose petition they are appointed. Such corporation or company shall be liable for any official misconduct of such officers to the same extent as for tort…

Section 96. A person to whom a debt is due for labor performed or for materials furnished and actually used in constructing a railroad or railway under a contract with a person other than the railroad corporation or railway company, who has authority from or is rightfully acting …

Section 97. A person who has contracted to construct the whole or a specified part of such railroad or railway shall not have such right of action.

Section 98. A person shall not have such right of action for materials furnished, unless, before beginning to furnish them, he files in the office of the clerk of the city or town where any of the materials are to be furnished a written notice of his intention to claim such right…

Section 99. A person shall not have such right of action for labor performed, unless, within thirty days after ceasing to perform it, he files in the office of the clerk of a city or town where any of said labor was performed a written statement, on oath, of the amount of the deb…