Chapter 160

Section 226. Whoever wilfully obstructs, or aids or abets in obstructing, or wilfully does or causes to be done anything with the intent to obstruct, the passing of an engine or car upon a railroad, or wilfully endangers, or aids or abets in endangering, or wilfully does or cause…

Section 227. Whoever wilfully and maliciously stops a train on a railroad or causes it to be stopped for the purpose of entering, leaving or wantonly delaying the same shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one month.

Section 228. Whoever unlawfully uses, removes or tampers with any tools or appliances carried on the cars of a railroad corporation as required by section one hundred and sixty-three shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more …

Section 229. If, upon the trial of an action against a city or town, the plaintiff recovers damages for an injury to his person or property caused by reason of a defect in a highway, within the location of a railroad, and if the corporation owning the railroad is liable for such …

Section 23. When the amount of capital stock named in the agreement of association has been subscribed in good faith by responsible persons, and ten per cent of the par value of each share has been actually paid in cash to the treasurer, the directors, clerk and treasurer shall a…

Section 231. Whoever, having the management or control of a railroad train while being used for the common carriage of persons, is guilty of gross negligence in or in relation to the management or control thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars…

Section 232. If a person is injured in his person or property by collision with the engines or cars or rail-borne motor cars of a railroad corporation at a crossing such as is described in section one hundred and thirty-eight, and it appears that the corporation neglected to give…

Section 233. A railroad corporation shall not be liable to any person for personal injuries caused by the acts or omissions of any persons or companies doing an express business over its railroad or of their servants or agents.

Section 234. Every railroad corporation shall be liable in damages to a person whose buildings or other property may be injured by fire communicated by its locomotive engines, and shall have an insurable interest in the property upon its route for which it may be so held liable, …

Section 235. Every corporation operating a railroad shall install and maintain on locomotives in its service spark arresters or other suitable devices capable of preventing the discharge of sparks or other material which could start a fire. Said spark arresters or other suitable …

Section 235A. Every railroad corporation shall, between April first and December first in each year, keep the full width of all its locations, to a point two hundred feet distant from the center line on each side thereof, clear of dead leaves, dead grass, dry brush or other infla…

Section 236. Any railroad corporation may, upon giving notice as herein provided, enter upon unimproved land adjoining any location or right of way upon which it operates engines burning wood, coke or coal, and may there, at its own expense and subject to the direction of the for…

Section 237. Any engineer, conductor or other employee on a train discovering a fire burning uncontrolled on lands adjacent to the tracks shall forthwith cause a fire signal to be sounded from the engine, which shall consist of one long and three short whistle blasts repeated sev…

Section 238. Sectionmen or other employees of a railroad corporation receiving notice of the existence and location of a fire burning on land adjacent to the tracks shall forthwith proceed to the fire and shall use all reasonable efforts to extinguish it; provided, that they are …

Section 239. Railroad corporations shall inform their employees as to their duties under the four preceding sections and shall furnish them with the appropriate facilities for reporting and extinguishing such fires.

Section 24. When it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the requirements of this chapter preliminary to the incorporation of a railroad corporation have been complied with, the clerk of the department, upon its order, shall annex to the agreement of association a …

Section 240. The five preceding sections shall not authorize any railroad corporation to enter upon, or to interfere in the management or care of, any public park or reservation.

Section 241. Any railroad corporation which, by its servants or agents, negligently, or in violation of law, sets fire to grass lands or forest lands shall be liable to any city or town where such fire occurs, for the reasonable and lawful expense incurred by such city or town in…

Section 241A. Every railroad corporation shall within thirty days after a derailment on any right-of-way or location upon which it operates its railroad remove all wreckage and debris caused by such derailment. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be punished by …

Section 242. A railroad corporation shall at all times submit its books to the inspection of any committee of the general court authorized to inspect them. The directors of every railroad corporation shall annually within the time prescribed by section thirty-two of chapter one h…

Section 243. Every railroad corporation shall, within fifty days after the expiration of each quarter of the year, transmit to the department a quarterly statement of its business and financial condition, in such form and with such detail as the department requires, which shall a…

Section 244. Every railroad corporation shall, during the continuance of any lease which it has taken of the railroad of another corporation, make all the returns required of the lessor; and during the continuance of such lease, the lessor shall not be required to make such retur…

Section 245. A person or corporation may construct a railroad for private use in the transportation of freight; but shall not take or use lands or other property therefor without the consent of the owner thereof. No such railroad shall be connected with the railroad of another co…

Section 246. If the consent of the department is required for the crossing of a way or traveled place by a railroad for private use, it may limit the number of tracks, and may impose other conditions relative to the use of the crossing by said railroad, and may modify such limita…

Section 247. Fifteen or more persons, a majority of whom are inhabitants of this commonwealth, may associate themselves by a written agreement of association, with the intention of forming a corporation to construct and operate a railroad, or railroad and telegraph, in any foreig…

Section 248. The agreement of association shall state: (a) That the subscribers thereto associate themselves with the intention of forming a railroad corporation, or a railroad and telegraph corporation. (b) The corporate name assumed. (c) The termini of the railroad, or the rail…

Section 249. When it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the requirements of the two preceding sections have been complied with, the clerk of the department, upon its order, shall annex to the agreement of association a certificate setting forth that fact. The dir…

Section 25. If the capital stock fixed in the agreement of association is found to be insufficient for the construction and equipment of the railroad, the corporation at a meeting called therefor may, subject to section forty-seven, increase the same, from time to time, to the am…

Section 250. The corporation may from time to time, at a meeting of directors called therefor, reduce the amount of the capital stock, or increase it for the purpose of constructing and equipping its railroad and extensions or branches thereof. If such increase or reduction is ma…

Section 251. Such corporation shall be subject to sections twenty-nine to forty, inclusive, and sixty-five, except as otherwise provided in the four preceding sections.

Section 252. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity on petition of the attorney general, of the railroad corporation, of any public body or of any other party interested to compel the observance of and to restrain the violation of all laws which govern railr…

Section 26. The agreement of association, and all proceedings thereunder, including the fixing of the route, shall be void, unless the certificate of incorporation is issued within one year after the time the route is fixed as provided in section twenty or twenty-one.

Section 27. If a corporation does not begin the construction of its railroad and expend thereon at least ten per cent of the amount of its original capital stock within two years after the date of its certificate of incorporation, and does not complete and open its railroad for u…

Section 28. A corporation which has a railroad of the gauge of three feet shall not begin running its trains, until its paid-up capital stock is equal to one half of its cost, including equipment.

Section 29. Upon the issue of such certificate of incorporation, the first meeting of the incorporators shall be called by a notice signed by a majority of the directors; and such notice shall state the time, place and purposes of the meeting. A copy of such notice shall, seven d…

Section 3. Railroad corporations established in the commonwealth shall be subject to this chapter and chapter one hundred and fifty-nine which, so far as inconsistent with charters granted since March eleventh, eighteen hundred and thirty-one, shall be an alteration and amendment…

Section 30. At such first meeting, or at any adjournment thereof, the incorporators shall organize by the adoption of by-laws, and by the election, by ballot, of not less than five directors. The clerk appointed by the directors under section fifteen shall make and attest a recor…

Section 31. The business of every corporation shall be managed and conducted by a president, a board of not less than five directors, a clerk, a treasurer and such other officers and such agents as the corporation by its by-laws shall authorize.

Section 32. The directors shall be elected annually by the stockholders by ballot, and the president shall be elected annually by and from the board of directors, and the treasurer and the clerk annually by said board. Every director, unless the by-laws otherwise provide, shall b…

Section 33. There shall be an annual meeting of the stockholders, and the time and place of holding it, and the manner of conducting it, shall be fixed by the by-laws. All meetings of stockholders shall, unless the by-laws otherwise provide, be held in the commonwealth; and shall…

Section 34. A special meeting of the stockholders shall be called, and a written notice thereof, stating the time, place and purpose of the meeting, given by the clerk, upon written application of three or more stockholders entitled to vote, and holding at least one tenth of the …

Section 35. A railroad corporation shall not, directly or indirectly, vote upon any share of its own stock.

Section 36. Stockholders entitled to vote shall have one vote for each share of stock owned by them. Stockholders may vote either in person or by proxy. No proxy dated more than six months before the meeting named therein shall be accepted, and no such proxy shall be valid after …

Section 37. Meetings of the board of directors may be held within or without the commonwealth. Any meeting of the board of directors shall be a legal meeting without notice, if each director, who is absent, by a writing filed with the records of the meeting, waives such notice.

Section 38. Each stockholder shall be entitled to a certificate, which shall be signed by the president and by the treasurer of the corporation, or by such other officers as may be authorized by the by-laws, shall be sealed with its seal, and shall certify the number of shares ow…

Section 39. The directors may from time to time assess upon each share such amounts, not exceeding in all one hundred dollars on a share, or the price fixed under section fifty of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, as they think proper, and may direct the same to be paid to the …