Chapter 160

Section 43. A railroad corporation organized under the laws of this commonwealth, or organized under the laws of this commonwealth and of any other state or states may, by vote of two thirds in interest of its common stockholders, at a meeting duly called therefor, with the appro…

Section 44. Each class of preferred stock issued under authority of the preceding section shall be designated by a name approved by the department to distinguish it from all other classes of stock of the corporation. A certified copy of the vote creating, and of the order of the …

Section 45. Any preferred stock issued under authority of section forty-three shall have the same voting power as the common stock, except that, in any case, there may be such limitations of the voting power of the preferred stock as the department approves and finds to be consis…

Section 46. Upon any issue of preferred stock the new shares shall, unless the common stockholders shall, with the approval of the department, otherwise provide, first be offered to the common stockholders in the manner prescribed in sections fifty and fifty-one of chapter one hu…

Section 47. A railroad corporation may issue shares of capital stock, bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness, for the purpose of funding its floating debt or for any other lawful purpose, and may mortgage or pledge as security for the payment of such indebtedness a part …

Section 48. Before any railroad corporation shall issue any shares of capital stock or any bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness payable at periods of more than one year after the date thereof, it shall apply to the department for its approval of the proposed issue to s…

Section 49. At the request of the owner or holder of any coupon bonds lawfully issued, the railroad corporation issuing them may issue registered bonds in exchange therefor, upon such terms and under such regulations as its directors may prescribe, and with the consent and approv…

Section 5. If a railroad which has been laid out and constructed by one corporation is lawfully maintained and operated by another corporation, the latter corporation shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter and chapter one hundred and fifty-nine respecting or arising f…

Section 50. All bonds or notes issued by a railroad corporation shall be valid and binding, although negotiated and sold by it or its agents at less than par.

Section 51. If a railroad corporation, having executed a mortgage of its property, rights and privileges, or of a part thereof, to trustees for the benefit of its general creditors, or of a particular class of creditors, makes default in the performance of the condition of the mo…

Section 52. Trustees in possession of a railroad under a mortgage shall annually call a meeting of the bondholders or creditors for whose security they hold the railroad in trust, to be held in December, of which notice shall be given by publication, at least ten days before such…

Section 53. At the annual meeting held under the preceding section, the bondholders or creditors, by a majority in interest vote, may, in person or by proxy, elect three trustees under the mortgage for the ensuing year, and until others are chosen and qualified. And the trustees …

Section 54. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity of all cases arising under the two preceding sections, and of all questions arising out of railroad mortgages, and may summarily remove a trustee under a railroad mortgage, whether he is in possession of the…

Section 55. A purchaser of a railroad at a sale under a valid foreclosure of a legal mortgage thereof, and his successors in title, shall, relative to the construction, maintenance and operation of said railroad, be subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions, and hav…

Section 56. A railroad corporation shall not declare any stock or scrip dividend or divide the proceeds of the sale of stock or scrip among its stockholders; nor shall any such corporation issue any share of stock to any person unless the par value of the shares so issued is firs…

Section 57. A certificate of stock or scrip issued in violation of the preceding section shall be void; and each director of the corporation issuing it shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars, to be recovered by indictment in the county where he resides, or, if he re…

Section 58. If a railroad constructed after April eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, meets another railroad which terminates in the same city or town, or lawfully crosses another railroad at the same level therewith, the corporation by which either of said railroads is own…

Section 59. If two corporations are authorized as in the preceding section each to enter its railroad upon, unite the same with and use the railroad of the other, each of them shall at reasonable times and for a reasonable compensation draw over its railroad the passengers, merch…

Section 6. This chapter and chapter one hundred and fifty-nine shall not impair the rights of the commonwealth as asserted or reserved in previous statutes, and the commonwealth may, at any time during the continuance of the charter of a railroad corporation after the expiration …

Section 60. If the corporations cannot agree upon the stated periods at which the cars of one shall be drawn over the railroad of the other, and upon the compensation to be paid therefor, or upon the terms and conditions upon which accommodations shall be furnished for the passen…

Section 61. A railroad corporation created by the laws of another state shall have all the rights and privileges relative to connecting railroads, under the three preceding sections, of a corporation created by the laws of this commonwealth.

Section 62. Two railroad corporations, incorporated under the laws of the commonwealth, and whose railroads enter upon or connect with each other, may contract that either corporation shall perform all the transportation upon and over the railroad of the other; and any such corpo…

Section 63. A railroad corporation shall not lease or contract for the operation of its railroad for a period of more than ninety-nine years without the consent of the general court; but this section shall not render invalid a lease approved by the stockholders of a corporation b…

Section 64. A railroad corporation, unless authorized by the general court or by the six following sections, shall not directly or indirectly subscribe for, take or hold the stock or bonds of or guarantee the bonds or dividends of any other corporation; and the amount of the bond…

Section 65. A railroad corporation may hold stock in a telegraph company, whose telegraph connects two or more places on the railroad, to an amount not exceeding two hundred dollars for each mile of railroad so connected.

Section 65A. A railroad corporation may hold stock in companies which manufacture, construct, sell, assign, lease, repair, equip, supply, maintain or deal in railroad cars and equipment to an amount not exceeding five per cent of its capital stock outstanding.

Section 65B. A railroad corporation may hold stock in real estate, warehouse, industrial facility, and industrial development companies but in no event shall such holdings exceed, in the aggregate, ten per cent of the outstanding capital stock of such railroad corporation.

Section 66. A railroad corporation may guarantee, to an amount not exceeding five per cent of its capital stock, the bonds of any corporation incorporated in the commonwealth for the purpose of carrying freight, passengers and mails between any port of this commonwealth and Europ…

Section 67. A railroad corporation may become an associate under chapter one hundred and fifty-six in the formation of a corporation for the purpose of erecting and operating a grain elevator within the commonwealth, and may take stock in any elevator corporation so organized, an…

Section 68. A corporation owning a railroad connecting with another railroad, both of which are wholly constructed, or a corporation owning a railroad leasing, operating or controlling another railroad, may acquire, hold, sell and, upon such terms and to such an extent as may be …

Section 69. A railroad corporation may aid in the construction of any branch or connecting railroad within the limits of the commonwealth, whether connecting by a railroad or steamboat line, by subscribing for shares of stock in such corporation, or by taking its notes or bonds s…

Section 7. The commonwealth may, at any time after one year's written notice to a railroad corporation, take its railroad, franchise and other property by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine; provided, however, that said notice shall not be required if the corporation does …

Section 70. A railroad corporation may acquire, hold, vote, sell and negotiate the stock and securities of terminal companies organized under the laws of the commonwealth, and of express companies operating in whole or in part on its lines, and may guarantee the bonds of such com…

Section 70A. A railroad corporation may acquire, hold, maintain and operate steamship companies, ferries, ferry boats and docks, and either directly or through subsidiaries, may own, maintain and operate motor vehicles not running upon rails or tracks, and aircraft for the transp…

Section 71. No corporation owning, leasing or operating a railroad wholly or partly in the commonwealth, nor any person or corporation acting in its interest shall, directly or indirectly, acquire, or attempt to acquire by purchase, exchange of shares, or in any other way, any sh…

Section 72. The presidents, or a majority of the boards of directors, or the holders of not less than one third in interest of the capital stock of two or more railroad corporations, may apply to the department for its determination as to whether the consolidation of the railroad…

Section 73. In case of any lease, purchase and sale or consolidation as authorized by the preceding section, no rate, fare or charge for transportation of passengers or property shall be increased, and no facilities for transportation shall be diminished thereby, nor in connectio…

Section 74. A railroad corporation, which violates any provision of section seventy-one or seventy-two, shall be punished by a fine of ten thousand dollars; and any officer or agent of such railroad corporation who procures, aids or abets such corporation in any violation of said…

Section 75. No railroad corporation shall purchase or take by eminent domain or enter upon or use, except for making surveys, any land or other property for the construction of its railroad or of any branch or extension thereof until the county commissioners of the county where s…

Section 76. No railroad corporation shall take by eminent domain or enter upon or use, except for making surveys, land or other property for the construction of its railroad or any branch or extension thereof until a sworn estimate of the total cost of constructing the same, prep…

Section 77. No railroad or part thereof which is operated by steam power shall be located or constructed within three miles of the state house without the previous written consent of the department, and of the board of aldermen of any city or of the selectmen of any town where th…

Section 78. A railroad corporation may purchase land for the location of its railroad within the limits of the route fixed under section twenty or twenty-one, and may also purchase so much more land as may be reasonably necessary for the proper construction and security of the ra…

Section 79. The corporation may, within one year after it has purchased land for railroad purposes, file with the commissioners of each county where such land is situated a description thereof, defining the courses, distances and boundaries of such land and certified by the clerk…

Section 8. A petition to the general court for a charter for a railroad corporation shall not be acted upon, unless accompanied by such a map of the route and by such a report of a competent engineer, as is specified in section eighteen.

Section 80. If a railroad corporation is not able to obtain by agreement with the owner any land necessary for the location of its railroad, it may file with the department a description of such location, which shall not be more than five rods wide unless authorized by the depart…

Section 81. If a railroad corporation is not able to obtain by agreement with the owner any land necessary for the location of its railroad, it shall furnish a plan of the land to the owner. An owner of land aggrieved by the location of a railroad crossing his land in such manner…