Massachusetts Statutes

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…

Section 82. After the location of the railroad has been finally determined under the two preceding sections, the corporation may take any land within such location by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine.

Section 83. If a railroad corporation requires land for any of the purposes specified in section seventy-eight other than for the location of its railroad not more than five rods wide as provided in the three preceding sections, and is unable to obtain it by agreement with the ow…

Section 84. A railroad corporation may purchase, or take in the manner provided in the preceding section, from time to time, any lands or rights belonging to any other railroad or other public service corporation not necessary for the business of such corporation at such time or …

Section 85. A railroad corporation, with the written approval of the department, obtained upon petition, and after notice to all persons interested, and a hearing, may, for the purpose of improving the alignment of its railroad or for any other lawful purpose, change its location…

Section 86. A railroad corporation, having taken land for its railroad, may vary the direction of said railroad in the city or town where such land is situated; but it shall not locate any part thereof outside the limits of the route fixed under section twenty or twenty-one, with…

Section 87. Land, outside the location of the railroad five rods in width, taken or purchased for railroad, depot or station purposes shall not be exempt from taxation.

Section 88. No length of possession or occupancy of land, which belongs to a railroad corporation, by an owner or occupier of adjoining land shall create in him or in a person claiming under him a right to such land of the corporation.

Section 89. The department shall, from time to time, prescribe rules relative to the form in which all descriptions of locations of railroads shall be made, the particulars to be contained therein and the manner in which such descriptions shall be uniformly kept for preservation …

Section 9. Plans and profiles presented to a committee of the general court in the hearing of a petition for such a charter shall be deposited by it in the state library.

Section 90. After a railroad corporation has taken land in the manner hereinbefore authorized, it shall, before constructing the railroad, and, upon request of the owner or occupant, fence it.

Section 91. At the time of awarding damages to landowners under chapter seventy-nine, the county commissioners shall in addition thereto order the corporation to construct and maintain such embankments, culverts, walls, fences or other structures as they judge reasonable for the …

Section 92. If the corporation neglects to comply with such order, the supreme judicial court, upon application of the landowner interested in its execution, or his assigns, shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce the specific performance thereof. Or if the corporation, for …

Section 93. Every railroad corporation shall erect and maintain suitable fences, with convenient bars, gates or openings therein, upon both sides of the entire length of its railroad, except at the crossings of a public way or in places where the convenient use of the railroad wo…

Section 93A. If the mayor of a city or the selectmen of a town where a railroad corporation is authorized to lay and use tracks are of the opinion that the public safety requires the erection of a fence along such tracks, they may apply to the department, which shall, after publi…

Section 94. If a person other than a railroad corporation is required by law or contract to erect or maintain fences along a part of the line of the railroad, the corporation shall erect such fences or keep them in repair as provided in the preceding section, and may recover in c…

Section 95. If two or more railroad corporations whose tracks cross each other at the same level agree to separate the grades, they may apply to the department which shall thereupon determine when, in what manner and by which corporation said work and each portion thereof shall b…

Section 96. A railroad shall not be constructed across another railroad at the same level without the written consent of the department, nor across navigable or tide waters without the written consent of the department of highways, and in such manner as said departments, respecti…

Section 97. A railroad laid out across a public way shall be so constructed as not to obstruct the same; and, unless the county commissioners and the department authorize a crossing at the same level as provided in section one hundred and two, it shall be constructed so as to pas…

Section 98. If the railroad is constructed to pass over the way, a sufficient space shall be left under the railroad conveniently to accommodate the travel on the way. If the railroad is constructed to pass under the way, the railroad corporation shall build such bridges, with th…

Section 99. Cities and towns may make agreements with railroad corporations in regard to the kind of material, form of construction and payment of the cost of the wearing surface of bridges and approaches over or under a public way, wherever the railroad company is required by la…

Section 1. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings: ''Board of aldermen'', or ''selectmen'', includes the board or other authority exercising the powers of a board of aldermen or of selectmen, but nothing in th…

Section 10. 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, stating the time, place and purposes of the meeting. A copy of such notice shall, seven days at least before…

Section 100. The department shall require every street railway company to heat its cars, when in use for the transportation of passengers, at such times, by such means, and to such extent, as the department shall determine, and the company shall forfeit twenty-five dollars for ea…

Section 101. Every street car in use for the transportation of passengers in December, January, February and March, which, while in motion, requires the constant care or service of an employee upon its platforms or upon one of them, shall have said platforms enclosed in such mann…

Section 102. A company failing to comply with the preceding section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars for each day during which such failure continues.

Section 103. A day's work for all conductors, guards, drivers, motormen, brakemen, dispatchers and gatemen employed by or on behalf of a street railway or elevated railway company shall not exceed nine hours, and shall be so arranged by the employer that it shall be performed wit…

Section 104. Every company shall furnish reasonable accommodations for the conveyance of passengers, and for every wilful neglect to provide such accommodations shall forfeit not less than five nor more than twenty dollars; and may establish the rates of fare for all passengers a…

Section 105. If the department deems additional accommodations including waiting rooms, stations, water closets and other sanitary conveniences for the traveling public are required upon any street railway, it may, after due notice to the company and a hearing, make an order for …

Section 106. No company shall by rule or otherwise require passengers whom it permits to ride upon the platform to do so at their own risk, and no such passenger shall be prevented from recovering compensation in damages for any injury by reason of the fact that he is so riding.

Section 107. A company may provide cars for special service, and may make special rates therefor; and may make special rates for working men and working women on week days between the hours of five and seven in the morning and five and seven in the evening, for children attending…

Section 108. The rates of fare charged by street or elevated railway companies for the transportation of pupils of the public day schools or public evening schools, of vocational schools subject to chapter seventy-four, or of private schools, between a given point from or to whic…

Section 109. All laws relative to changes and regulation of fares upon railroads shall apply to changes and regulation of fares upon street railways.

Section 11. 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 five shall make and attest a record o…

Section 110. A company shall not withdraw or discontinue the use of any free checks or free transfers from one car or line of cars to another without the approval of the department, but may regulate the use thereof to conform to rates of fare established under authority of sectio…

Section 111. All companies shall furnish the public with full information, by notice posted for seven consecutive days prior to the date when the same are to take effect in the cars on the lines affected, of any intended change in the running of cars, or the discontinuance of any…