Massachusetts Statutes

Section 59. A company acting under authority of the preceding section shall be subject to sections seventy-five, seventy-six, eighty, eighty-one, eighty-six, ninety to ninety-three, inclusive, ninety-six and two hundred and fifty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty, and, if its …

Section 6. The directors, before applying for locations for a railway, shall cause a copy of the agreement of association to be published in a newspaper, if any, published in each of the cities and towns where the railway is to be located, and, if, in any county, a newspaper is p…

Section 60. A company authorized to construct its railway at grade across a public way in any place where such crossing is not a part of the crossing of such way by another public way, and incident to the construction of the street railway longitudinally within the limits of such…

Section 61. The three preceding sections shall not enlarge the extent or purposes for which a street railway may be constructed or operated outside the limits of public ways as defined and limited in sections fifty-four and fifty-five.

Section 62. A company shall not lease or contract for the operation of its railway for a period of more than ninety-nine years without the consent of the general court, nor, except as provided in the three following sections and in section one hundred and twenty-three, shall it s…

Section 63. A domestic company may sell and convey the whole or a part of its franchise and property to, or may consolidate with, any other such company whose railway connects with, intersects or forms a continuous line with its own, if the facilities for travel on the railway of…

Section 64. The purchasing or consolidated company may, subject to section twenty-eight, increase its capital stock and issue bonds to an amount necessary for the purposes authorized in the preceding section, and may exchange its securities for those of the selling or merged comp…

Section 65. Such purchasing or consolidated company shall have the powers and privileges, and be subject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions, of the company selling or merged, but, except as provided in this chapter or chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, no right to condu…

Section 66. Two domestic companies, whose railways connect with or intersect each other or together form a continuous line, may contract that either company shall perform all the transportation upon and over the whole or any part of the railway of the other; or any such company m…

Section 67. A company which contracts for the operation, or takes a lease, of another railway shall, subject to the terms of such contract or lease, have and enjoy the powers and privileges, and be subject to the duties, liabilities and restrictions of the company owning it; but …

Section 68. A company shall not appropriate for the payment of dividends any money received from the sale of any portion of its railway, unless it first reduces its capital stock issued, by an amount which, at its par value, is equal to the amount which such portion of its railwa…

Section 69. A domestic company may purchase from a street railway company incorporated under the laws of another state so much of the railway, franchise and property of such other company as is located or used and exercised within this commonwealth when the railway of such other …

Section 69A. An association or trust which owns all of the capital stock of a company may be merged into such company. Such company and such association or trust shall enter into an agreement in writing which shall prescribe the terms of the merger. Such agreement shall be approv…

Section 7. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, upon petition executed in accordance with the by-laws or a vote of the directors of a company organized or in process of organization under this chapter, or organized under a special act, for an original locat…

Section 70. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, on petition of fifty legal voters, or on petition executed in accordance with the by-laws or a vote of the directors of a company whose tracks are located in said city or town, after public notice and a heari…

Section 71. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town, on petition executed in accordance with the by-laws or a vote of the directors of a company whose tracks are located in said city or town, or on petition of any interested party, after public notice and a hea…

Section 72. The several boards, departments and commissions authorized by law to grant locations to companies may, to enable any such company to avoid interruption of its service, on petition of such company or of any interested party, grant temporary locations for the tracks of …

Section 73. If a bridge upon which a company is authorized to lay and use tracks is being or is to be altered, rebuilt, improved or repaired, the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town on petition of the president or a majority of the directors of such company may…

Section 74. A company whose petition for such temporary location has been refused in whole or in part, or has been neither granted nor refused, within fourteen days after the filing thereof, may apply to the department for such temporary location. If the department deems public n…

Section 75. A company which is granted such temporary location for the extension of its tracks shall not maintain them nor operate cars over them beyond the period during which the operation of its cars over such bridge is interrupted by reason of such alteration, improvement, re…

Section 76. If such bridge is altered, rebuilt, improved or repaired under sections fifty-nine to sixty-four, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, the cost of construction of the tracks upon and over such temporary location shall be reckoned as a part of the charges …

Section 77. The board of aldermen or selectmen, after the expiration of one year from the opening for use of a street railway in their city or town, and after public notice and a hearing as provided in section seven, if public necessity and convenience in the use of the public wa…

Section 78. If application is made for a location in a public way where no street railway tracks are located, and such way is widened under chapter eighty or eighty-two by an order declaring the widening to be necessary for public convenience for the purpose of granting such loca…

Section 79. If a public way where the tracks of a company have been located for a period of five years is altered, or if the grade thereof is changed under chapter eighty or eighty-two, the company shall pay such proportionate share of the expense thereof, including therein the n…

Section 8. 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 paid in cash to the treasurer, the directors, clerk and treasurer shall annex to th…

Section 80. The provisions of chapter eighty relative to the assessment of betterments on real estate, so far as applicable, shall apply to assessments made under the two preceding sections.

Section 81. If the board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town and a company having a location in a way which said board of aldermen or said selectmen or the county commissioners of the county where said city or town lies have in writing requested the commonwealth to t…

Section 82. If a public way in which a street railway location has been granted shall be thereafter laid out, taken charge of or constructed by or under the authority of said department of highways, it shall thereafter, relative to the location and maintenance of a street railway…

Section 83. No street railway or portion or extension thereof shall be opened for public use until the department, after an examination, certifies that all laws relative to its construction have been complied with, and that it appears to be in a safe condition for operation; but …

Section 84. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, subject to the approval, revision or alteration of the department, establish such regulations as to the rate of speed, the manner and extent of use of tracks, and the number and routes of cars which run over such tracks, wit…

Section 85. The department of highways, in respect to state highways, and the superintendent of streets of cities or officers exercising like authority therein and the selectmen in towns in respect to all other public ways, shall establish regulations for the clearance of snow fr…

Section 86. If a company voluntarily discontinues the use of any part of its tracks for a period of six months, it shall become obligated to remove such track at such time or times as the municipal or state authorities having control of the public way or ways occupied thereby sha…

Section 87. The aldermen or selectmen may order a company to discontinue temporarily the use of any tracks within the limits of their city or town, if they determine that public safety or convenience so requires.

Section 88. A city or a town which, for any lawful purpose, takes up, alters or discontinues public ways in which the tracks of a company are located, shall not be liable in damages therefor to said company.

Section 89. A company shall not be required to keep any portion of the surface material of public ways and bridges in repair, but it shall remain subject to all legal obligations imposed in original grants of locations, and may, as incident to its corporate franchise, and without…

Section 9. When it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that the requirements of this chapter preliminary to the incorporation of a company have been complied with, and that locations have been obtained for a railway between the termini and substantially over the route …

Section 90. If, upon the trial of an action against the commonwealth, a city, town, railroad corporation or bridge corporation, the plaintiff recovers damages for an injury to his person or property caused by reason of a defect in a public way or bridge occupied by the tracks of …

Section 91. Every company shall, in a manner satisfactory to the department, erect and maintain guards or railings upon every bridge, or draw of a bridge, crossed by its tracks, to prevent its cars from running off. If, for sixty days after service on it of an order of the depart…

Section 92. If a street railway crosses at the same level a steam railroad where locomotive engines are in daily use, every motorman of a car upon the street railway shall, when approaching the point of intersection, stop his car within one hundred feet of the crossing; but the d…

Section 93. The board of aldermen or the selectmen may, subject to the approval of the department, establish such regulations, requiring the motorman or conductor to give notice or warning of the approach of street cars, as they deem will best secure the unobstructed use of the t…

Section 94. Whoever wilfully obstructs a company or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the legal use of a railway track, or delays the passing of its cars thereon, or wilfully obstructs a company or the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the legal use of…

Section 94A. Whoever places or throws filth, rubbish or any other substance within a station, waiting room, or terminal of a public transportation facility, or upon the platform, stairs, grounds or on other premises of a public transportation facility, after having been forbidden…

Section 95. Whoever without right enters, remains in or loiters within a station, waiting room, or terminal of a public transportation facility, or upon the platform, stairs, grounds or other premises of a public transportation facility, after having been forbidden so to do eithe…

Section 96. If a company, its agents or servants, wilfully or negligently obstructs a public way or bridge, or hinders the passing of vehicles over the same, or wilfully detains the cars of another company having the lawful right to pass thereon, such company shall be punished by…

Section 97. If a company, its agent or servant, allows a child under ten years to enter upon or into any of its cars for the purpose of selling newspapers or other articles therein or offering them for sale, it shall forfeit fifty dollars, to be recovered by any person by an acti…

Section 98. A company shall equip its cars, when in use, with such headlights, fenders, wheel guards, brakes, and other safety devices, and shall provide such protection, human or otherwise, at its station platforms, as may be required from time to time by the department.