Title 77, Public Utilities and Carriers

(1) When the consignee or owner of any goods or articles transported on any railroad cannot be found or refuses to receive the same or pay the charges, or neglects to do so for a period of fifteen (15) days after notice addressed to the consignee and deposited in the post office,…

(1) The term “railroad” as used in this chapter, includes and applies to every person, firm, association of persons, and company, whether incorporated or not, who or which shall own or operate a railroad as a common carrier. (2) The term “company” as used in this chapter, embrace…

(a) Persons desiring the creation and organization of a railroad corporation may prepare an application therefor, in writing, addressed to the governor, in which they shall declare:(a) The names, residence and post office of each of the applicants;(b) The terminal points of the p…

Upon the receipt of the application, the governor shall submit the same to the attorney general, and obtain his opinion, in writing, to be indorsed thereon, whether or not it be in conformity to law. If the opinion be that the application conforms to law, and the governor believe…

The application and the proclamation of the governor shall be attached each to the other, and both shall be recorded in the office of the secretary of state, and also in the record of deeds of each county through which the projected railroad is to extend, at the expense of the pr…

Upon the issuance of the proclamation by the governor, authorizing them so to do, and its recordation in the office of the secretary of state, the projectors shall meet and organize, and elect a board of directors of such number as they may see fit. The board, when elected, may s…

Any railroad corporation heretofore or hereafter organized under the laws of the State of Mississippi may issue one or more classes of capital stock with or without nominal or par value. Such classes of capital stock may be issued with such designations, preferences and restricti…

When organized, the board of directors shall file in the office of the secretary of state a statement, in writing, signed by the directors and sworn to by one of them, showing the date of the organization, the amount of the entire capital stock, and the shares into which divided.…

When any railroad shall be sold under execution, or under a deed of trust, or by a decree of a court enforcing a mortgage or other lien, the purchasers thereof and their assigns and successors shall be entitled to and be invested with all the franchises, rights, powers, privilege…

The charter of any railroad corporation organized under the provisions of this article may be amended in the manner following. A resolution adopted by the stockholders owning a majority of the stock, which shall describe fully all proposed changes desired to be made in the charte…

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other statutes of this state specifying the procedure to be followed in obtaining amendments to charters of incorporation of railroad companies incorporated under the laws of this state, in all cases where a plan of reorganization of any …

Any railroad company organized and existing under the laws of this state and which is subject to the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 shall have power to consolidate with any other railroad company, organized under the laws of this or any other state, and sh…

Except as provided in Section 77-9-119, it shall be unlawful for any railroad company to consolidate with a parallel or competing railroad company, or to allow its affairs to be in any manner managed, regulated, or controlled by any such parallel or competing railroad company, or…

Except as limited, or otherwise prescribed, by valid federal statutes or lawful regulations made thereunder, every railroad corporation, organized under the provisions of this article, shall have and exercise the powers, rights and privileges set forth in Sections 77-9-143 throug…

To sue and be sued, to plead and to be impleaded, and to have and use a common seal.

To build and construct, and thereafter to use, operate, own, sell, and enjoy the railroad as specified and defined in the application of the projectors for its creation and organization, with one or more tracks, and to construct and operate such branches, spurs, and laterals ther…

To charge and collect reasonable compensation for the transportation of persons and property on its road.

To issue any part of its stock as preferred stock, and to fix the relative rights of common and preferred stock, and to issue such bonds and obligations as it may from time to time determine.

To increase, from time to time, its capital stock, but never to exceed the amounts actually expended by the railroad company in constructions, completions, equipments, and additions to its railroad and property; a stockholder shall not be liable for the debts of the corporation b…

To determine the number of directors, and of officers and agents under them, and to fix the compensation and prescribe the duties of each, and the terms of office of each.

To authorize the directors to appoint an executive committee, with full power to act in their stead and place at all times when they are not in session.

To open books of subscription for the capital stock of the company, and to call meetings of the stockholders for the election of directors and the performance of such other business as may be proper.

To mortgage or convey in trust, from time to time, any or all of its property, real, personal, and mixed, then owned or thereafter to be acquired, and also all or any of its rights, powers, privileges, liberties, immunities, or franchises, whether then owned, possessed, and enjoy…

To lease, except to parallel or competing lines, its railroad and all of its property and franchises, rights, powers, privileges, and immunities then owned or thereafter to be acquired, for a term of years, and to lease, except from parallel or competing lines, other railroads, i…

To do an express business over its own line or lines of railroad; to acquire and put up, use, and operate a line or lines of telegraph along its lines; and to acquire, hold, and enjoy all such property as may be proper, necessary, or convenient in doing such express or telegraph …

To enter upon all lands, and to survey, lay out, and construct a railroad thereon. However, before so doing, it must contract and agree with the owner upon the price to be paid for the land or its use, or with the administrator, executor, or guardian in case the owner be dead, be…

To enter upon, acquire, and enjoy a right of way over and across any lands belonging to the state, the same not to exceed in width one hundred (100) feet, and the same not to be appropriated or used except when the actual construction of the road has reached such state lands.

To enter upon land adjacent to its right of way for the purpose of making, or repairing, or changing the railroad, and to cut, quarry, dig, take, and carry away any stone, wood, gravel, earth, or other materials which may be necessary. However, in all such cases it shall make com…

To agree and contract for the acquisition of, or to exercise the right of eminent domain to condemn, lands necessary for depots or other necessary and proper purposes.

To cross, intersect, join, or unite its railroad with any other railroad heretofore or hereafter constructed at any points on its route, and upon the ground of such other railroad company, with the necessary and proper turnouts, sidings, switches, and other conveniences, and to e…

To construct, maintain, or operate its railroad under, over, and across any and all streams or bodies of water, whether navigable or not, which lie along or across its route, and to erect, use, and maintain bridges over the same; however, whenever a navigable stream or body of wa…

To insure persons and property, or either, transported or to be transported over its railroad, and all property coming or about to come into its possession or control for the purpose of transportation or incident thereto, or for storage in any of its depots, storage houses or wha…

To do and perform all and everything necessary to the exercise of the powers expressed in this article, and to the accomplishment of the objects of its creation and organization, including the exercise of the right of eminent domain as provided in Chapter 27, Title 11, of the Mis…

The powers conferred in Sections 77-9-141 through 77-9-183 are to be exercised by a board of directors and the officers, agents, and employees under them.

A railroad company chartered under this article may, after beginning the construction of its road, make all necessary or proper changes in its course or direction from that specified in the application for its incorporation, and may, with the consent of the Public Service Commiss…

All railroads hereafter constructed in this state may adopt such gauge for their respective roads as the stockholders may determine. Any railroad company, the gauge of whose road is not the standard, may change the gauge to the standard gauge whenever a majority of the capital st…

A railroad corporation shall not issue stocks or bonds except for money, labor done or in good faith agreed to be done, or property actually received. Any fictitious increase of stock or indebtedness shall be void.

The board of directors is to be subject to the stockholders of the railroad company, who may meet as often as they shall determine. The stockholders may remove any or all of the directors from office, elect others, and vacate and annul any by-laws, order, or rule established or o…

(a) Section 77-9-221 shall not apply:(a) to tramroads, mill roads and roads engaged principally in lumber or logging transportation in connection with mills;(b) to railroad systems under thirty miles long which do not run regular night schedules;(c) to any engine, the lighting eq…

Every railroad company shall cause each locomotive engine run by it to be provided with a bell of at least thirty (30) pounds weight and with a whistle or horn which can be heard distinctly at a distance of three hundred (300) yards, and shall cause the bell to be rung or the whi…

In forming a passenger train, freight or merchandise or lumber cars shall not be placed in the rear of passenger cars. If they, or any of them, shall be so placed and any accident happens to life or limb, the officer or agent who so directed or knowingly suffered such arrangement…

It shall be unlawful to back a train of cars, or part of a train, or an engine into or along a passenger depot at a greater rate of speed than three (3) miles an hour. Every such train, part of a train, or engine backing into or along a passenger depot, and within fifty (50) feet…

(a) Section 77-9-231 shall not apply:(a) to railroads whose principal business is hauling logs;(b) to locomotive engines running for coal or water, doubling hills, returning from trains when broken into, or going to or returning from trains in the yard limits of terminal stations…

Every railroad company, upon stopping any train at a place where such railroad shall cross a highway, shall so uncouple its cars as not to obstruct travel upon such highway for a longer period than five (5) minutes. Every railroad company shall, upon stopping a train at a place w…

No member of a train crew, yard crew or engine crew of a railroad which is a common carrier shall be held criminally responsible or found guilty of violating any state laws or of any municipal ordinances regulating or intended to regulate the blocking of any street, road or highw…

Any railroad company having the right of way may run locomotives and cars by steam through cities and towns, at the rate of thirty miles an hour and no more. The company shall be liable for any damages or injury which may be sustained by any one from such locomotive or cars whils…