Title XX, Transportation

The board shall hear all parties who are interested and desire to be heard and shall make report of their doings and findings to the regular session of the court held next after their last hearing.

The court shall thereupon, after hearing such parties as desire to be heard, decide the questions raised by the petition, and cause a record of their decision to be made.

I. If they decide that the public good requires the proposed railroad, the secretary of state, upon receipt of a copy of such decision, shall issue to the corporation a certificate substantially in the following form: THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Be it known that whereas ... have a…

The directors may call a meeting of the subscribers to the capital stock of the corporation for the purpose of adopting bylaws and completing a permanent organization, and give such notice thereof as they deem reasonable.

All the franchises and rights of a corporation so established, as to any portion of its railroad which is not completed ready for operation at the end of 3 years from the date of its certificate of establishment, shall be forfeited.

Railroads have the general powers granted to other corporations, and the special powers granted to them by their charters and the general laws of the state.

The articles of agreement shall set forth the name of the corporation; the termini of the proposed railroad; its length, as nearly as may be; the name of each city, town and county through or into which its route will extend; its gauge; the amount of the capital stock of the corp…

Any railroad corporation may, subject to the provisions of RSA 374, lease its railroad, railroad property, and interests to any other railroad corporation for such length of time and upon such terms as may be agreed to by the lessor and lessee corporations at meetings of their re…

If 2 or more railroad corporations, at meetings of their respective stockholders, properly notified and held for the purpose, have agreed, by a 2/3 vote of the stock represented and voting at such meetings, to unite and form a single corporation, they may apply by petition to the…

In such case, the corporations shall make and execute an agreement setting forth the terms of the union, and shall cause the same, together with the decision of the court authorizing the union, to be recorded in the office of the secretary of state; and, from and after such recor…

The first meeting of the new corporation shall be called by the presidents of the corporations which united to form it, or by either of them, by publishing a notice of the time and place of meeting and of the subjects to be there acted upon, in one or more newspapers published in…

Until stock of the new corporation has been issued to assenting stockholders, they shall have the right to vote in meetings of members of the new corporation as if stock had been issued to them according to the agreement of union and they were the holders thereof.

The capital stock of the new corporation shall not exceed the sum of the capital stocks of the uniting corporations actually issued and paid for at par at the time of the union.

The new corporation shall not divide to its stockholders in dividends a greater sum than the aggregate sum which the uniting corporations together were authorized to divide to their stockholders.

If any stockholder in a railroad corporation which has voted to build an extension or branch, or which has become a party to a lease or to a contract of union under the provisions of this chapter, shall dissent from the building of such extension or branch, or from such lease or …

The court shall fix a time and place for a hearing upon the petition and shall order the petitioner to give notice thereof by publishing the petition, or the substance of it (not including the names of stockholders), in such newspapers as the court may order, and by mailing postp…

At the time and place so appointed such justice, or some other justice of the court, shall attend, and, if it appears that the summons has been complied with, shall proceed with the hearing.

The corporate name shall be one that is not in use by any other corporation in the state; and it shall not be changed except by the legislature.

Any nonassenting stockholders may appear and be heard upon the questions before the court affecting their rights.

If any such stockholder is a minor, or an insane person and has no guardian, the justice shall appoint a guardian ad litem for such person, and the petitioner shall pay such guardian for his services and disbursements in the proceedings.

After hearing the parties, the justice shall determine the value of the stock, interest or property right taken of all stockholders who are entitled to have compensation therefor and shall make and enforce all orders that may be necessary to secure to dissenting and other stockho…

The petitioner shall forthwith pay or tender the sums so awarded to the stockholders entitled thereto. If for any reason it is impracticable to make or tender such payment, or if a stockholder refuses to receive the sum awarded to him when tendered, the petitioner shall deposit t…

Whenever the petitioner has made such payment or tender and deposit, the stock, interest or property right of the stockholder shall become the property of the petitioner, and the court may make and enforce such orders as may be necessary to secure the same to the petitioner.

Whenever the petitioner has made payment or tender and deposit of all sums thus awarded, the lessee corporation, or the new corporation, as the case may be, shall become possessed and seized of the property, franchises and rights named in the contract of lease or union in accorda…

Any stockholder who is aggrieved by the award may appeal therefrom by filing, in the office of the clerk of the superior court for the county of Merrimack, notice of his appeal, within 30 days after the award is filed.

The justice who made the award, upon application of the appellant, shall direct the appeal to be entered at a term of the court to be held in the county in which the appellant resides or in which the principal office of the appellee is located, as he shall think best.

The appellant shall give notice to the appellee of his appeal, and of the court at which it will be entered, at least 14 days before the beginning of such term; and the court shall thereupon assess the value of his stock, interest or property right taken, by a jury.

If upon such trial the amount of the award is increased, the stockholder shall have judgment and execution against the appellee therefor, with interest and costs; if it is decreased, the appellee shall have judgment and execution for such decrease.

The capital stock of the corporation shall not be less than $5,000 for each mile of the proposed railroad if the gauge thereof is to be 3 feet or less, and not less than $10,000 for each mile if the gauge is to be more than 3 feet. It shall be divided into shares of $100 each.

A corporation may borrow money to settle with its dissenting stockholders; provided, that its indebtedness is not thereby increased beyond the limit authorized by law.

Whenever a corporation becomes the owner of any of its stock, under the provisions of this chapter, it shall sell or retire the same within 2 years after it becomes such owner. Unless it can sell the same at private sale for as much as it cost the corporation, it shall make the s…

No corporation shall locate a railroad upon or over any portion of a route for which a charter of any other corporation was upon September 14, 1883, and still is, existing, and under which a location has not been made, until it has been made or until the time limited in the chart…

The principal place of business of every corporation formed under the provisions of this chapter, and the offices of the superintendent and other officers who have the general management of the business of the corporation, shall be within this state.

I. Any corporation which constructs a railroad or a branch or extension of a railroad shall file a map or profile of the railroad, branch or extension with the secretary of state. II. The filing must be made within one year of the time the railroad, branch or extension is opened …

No title to any real estate or to any interest therein shall be acquired by or against a railroad by adverse possession, however exclusive or long continued.

The treasurer of every railroad, any part of whose road is in this state, shall transmit to the state treasurer, on or before June 1 in each year, a list of the stockholders of the corporation residing in each town of the state on April 1 preceding, giving the number of shares ow…

I. No railroad shall tear up and remove or discontinue the use of any portion of its tracks other than spur, industrial or storage tracks, or curtail any part of its service to the public without notice to the department and such notice to the public as the department may direct.…

Nothing in this chapter shall impair the right which any railroad corporation has to unite with another corporation, or to become a party to a contract for the lease of a railroad.

Foreign railroad corporations operating roads within this state shall have the same rights for the purposes of operating, leasing or uniting with other roads as if created by the laws of this state.

The rights of the state as to any corporation, its franchises or property shall not be impaired by any contract of lease or union made by it.

When the full amount of the capital stock has been subscribed in good faith by responsible parties, the directors shall cause the articles of agreement to be recorded in the office of the secretary of state, and a true copy thereof, attested by a majority of the directors, to be …

I. Every railroad shall print schedules of rates, fares and charges of the carrier for the transportation of passengers and baggage or for any other service and file these schedules with the commissioner. Such schedules shall be open to public inspection. II. The commissioner sha…

I. The commissioner may require: (a) Annual reports from all railroads. The commissioner shall require that the reports be made under oath; (b) Specific answers to any questions deemed necessary by the commissioner; and (c) Copies of any agreements between a railroad and any othe…

Without first having obtained the permission of the commissioner, no railroad shall begin the construction of an extension of its railroad or of any branch thereof; and the commissioner shall grant such permission whenever, after due hearing, he shall determine that such construc…

If the petition shall be granted, the railroad corporation shall file in the office of the secretary of state a copy of the petition and of the order of the commissioner.

No franchise, nor any right to or under any franchise, to own or operate a railroad shall be assigned, transferred or leased, nor shall any contract or agreement with reference to, or affecting, any such franchise or right be valid or of any force or effect whatever, unless the a…