Massachusetts Statutes

Section 212. A railroad corporation shall not receive, forward or deliver milk in large quantities over any portion of its line, or permit others so to do, under contract, lease or hiring of cars or otherwise, without at the same time providing, as regards time, care and preserva…

Section 213. Upon the petition of one or more persons who desire to forward milk by the can over any railroad or any portion thereof, the department, after notice to the railroad corporation and a hearing, shall ascertain and compare the tariff established as aforesaid for milk b…

Section 214. A railroad corporation which refuses or neglects to receive, forward or deliver milk by the can over its railroad or any portion thereof at the tariff rate therefor, as provided in the preceding section, shall forfeit to the person tendering the same five dollars for…

Section 215. On application of any railroad corporation, authorized by a vote of two thirds of the shares present and voting at a meeting called therefor, the department may, after public notice and a hearing, authorize such corporation to change its name.

Section 216. A certified copy of such authorization and a certificate of the vote of the corporation, signed and sworn to by the president, treasurer and a majority of the directors, shall be filed in the office of the state secretary. The department shall require public notice t…

Section 217. A railroad corporation shall have the same rights, powers and privileges, and be subject to the same duties, obligations and liabilities, under its new name as before its name was changed, and may sue and be sued by its new name; but any action brought against it by …

Section 218. Whoever knowingly, without right is present, stands, walks, or rides a bicycle, snow vehicle, recreational or other vehicle on the right-of-way, bridge, or other property of, or used or controlled by any railroad corporation, except at a highway or other authorized g…

Section 219. Whoever without right loiters or remains within a station house of a railroad corporation, or of the Boston Terminal Corporation, or upon the platform or grounds adjacent to such station, after being requested to leave the same by a police officer or by a railroad po…

Section 22. The route fixed under the two preceding sections may include such spurs, branches and connecting and terminal tracks in any city or town as may be necessary to enable the corporation conveniently to collect and deliver passengers and freight therein; but no such branc…

Section 220. Whoever, without right rides or attempts to ride upon a locomotive engine, tender, freight car, caboose, other conveyance or passenger train upon a railroad or upon the trains of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail other than as a fare paying…

Section 221. Except in Suffolk county, the fees and expenses of officers in the apprehension, trial or commitment of a person arrested or tried for violation of the preceding section shall be paid by the county where the offence was committed.

Section 222. Whoever, without the consent of a railroad corporation, or its agent, rides, drives, or leads a horse, or other beast, on the railroad opened for use of such corporation, except in the proper use of a public or other way, or of a traveled place at a crossing of such …

Section 223. The person through whose fault or negligence a horse or other beast goes at large within the limits of a railroad opened for use, shall forfeit not more than twenty dollars, and be liable for any damage resulting therefrom.

Section 224. Whoever enters upon or crosses a railroad at a private way closed by gates or bars, and neglects to close them securely, shall forfeit not less than two nor more than ten dollars, and be liable for any damage resulting therefrom.

Section 225. Whoever maliciously injures a railroad, or anything pertaining thereto, or any materials or implements for the construction or use thereof, or aids or abets in such trespass, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment in jai…

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…