Title XX, Transportation

The fee for recording articles of agreement in the office of the secretary of state as provided in RSA 243:5 shall be at the rate of $1 per page.

The subscribers to the articles of agreement, and their assigns, shall thereupon become and be a corporation (herein termed the provisional corporation) having the following franchises, and no other: I. Authority to organize and to elect officers and agents; II. Authority to make…

If the provisional corporation shall not take the necessary steps and become a railroad corporation within 2 years after the time of the record of its articles of agreement in the office of the secretary of state, its existence as a corporation shall terminate.

The provisional corporation may file in the office of the clerk of the superior court for the county of Merrimack a petition for a decision of the question whether the public good requires the proposed railroad.

The trustees to whom a railroad has been assigned, or conveyed in mortgage for the benefit of creditors, shall call a meeting of the creditors whose claims are secured by the mortgage once a year, to be held at some place on or near the railroad, by publication in 2 daily newspap…

If any such holding company shall, after reasonable notice, fail to comply with the provisions of RSA 244:9, the supreme court shall, upon petition of any party interested, dissolve the railroad corporation, a majority of whose stocks is owned by such holding company.

If the trustees, on application of such creditors to the amount of 1/3 of the whole sum secured, do not, within 14 days, call such meeting, 5 or more creditors holding the like amount of claims may call it in the same manner.

At such meeting, the trustees shall make a report of the state of the trust property, and of their proceedings and management in relation thereto, according to the usual custom of directors of railroads to the stockholders.

The creditors at such meeting may elect, by ballot, 3 or 5 trustees, being creditors, and a majority, at least, residents of the state, each creditor being entitled to one vote for each $100 of his debt and having the same right to vote by proxy as stockholders of railroads at th…

Upon the election of new trustees, the interest of the former trustees shall be transferred to and vest in such new trustees; and the former trustees shall render and settle an account of their trust with such successors, and pay and transfer to them such mortgage estate and any …

No trustees or assignees of a railroad mortgage, who have the railroad in their charge, shall, as such and without their own default, be personally responsible for any damage, by collision or force, occurring to any passenger or freight upon the railroad.

In case of such damage, the company assigning or mortgaging the railroad shall be liable; and the assets in the hands of the trustees shall be held for such damage as part of the expenses of the trust, in preference to the claims of the general creditors of the company.

The superior court shall have summary power to make all orders and decrees necessary to carry such trusts into effect.

Any corporation, whether foreign or domestic, which owns a majority of the capital stock of any railroad in the state, or operates the same under lease or otherwise, shall make returns and furnish information to the department of transportation as to such railroad properties and …

Railroads shall be surveyed, and laid out, in the first instance, by their agents.

The owner of any interest in any land over which the road is located, at any time after the return of the location is made as above provided, may apply in like manner by petition to the department of transportation to appraise the damages occasioned to him by the railroad.

No appraisal of damages to landowners shall be made, after a petition for a change of location has been presented to the department of transportation, until such question has been decided.

The department of transportation shall file its report in the office of the secretary of state, and shall certify the damages awarded to landowners in each town to the town clerk of such town, within 10 days after making the award; and the clerk shall note upon such certificate t…

If either party is aggrieved by the award of the department of transportation, such party, within 60 days after the report is filed in the office of the secretary of state, and not after, may file in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the land is…

If an appeal is taken, the proprietors shall also file in the office of the clerk of court, in the county in which the land is situated, reasonable security to the satisfaction of the court for the payment of any further damages and of the costs which may be awarded to the landow…

The damages awarded to a landowner shall be paid or tendered to him, if he is known and resident in the state, before the proprietors of the railroad shall enter on his land to construct their road, except by his consent.

If the landowner or his residence is unknown, or if he is a minor and has no guardian, or is not resident in the state, the damages awarded shall be paid to the state treasurer for the landowner's use, before the land can be rightfully entered upon.

If the landowner's damages are reduced upon appeal, the proprietors of the railroad shall have judgment and execution against him for the amount of such reduction if he has taken the damages tendered to him; but, if he has not taken such damages, the proprietors may retain the am…

If the result of an appeal is to change the award of damages in favor of the appellant, the appellant shall recover costs; otherwise he shall pay costs.

No action shall be brought for damages before entry upon the land; and, if the location of the road shall be changed before the land is entered upon for the purpose of building the road, no damages shall be paid.

The grantees to whom the legislature has granted the right to construct and maintain a railroad, by virtue of a special charter or of the general laws, may enter upon any land which falls within their route, and by their agents and engineers may make such surveys as they deem nec…

The location of a railroad already built may be changed by the department of transportation upon petition of the proprietors thereof, after notice to all persons interested, a hearing and an award of damages to persons injured by the change.

The rights of all parties shall be the same in such case as in case of an original appraisal. The change of location shall be a discontinuance of the part abandoned, but the proprietors may be allowed by the department of transportation a limited time to remove their fixtures the…

If land occupied by a railroad was not laid out and the damages appraised at the time of its construction, the road shall not be obstructed, but the land may be set off and the damages appraised as should have been done originally; and the costs of the proceeding shall be assesse…

The proprietors of a railroad may take and hold such land as may be necessary for yards, side tracks, fuel sheds, repair shops, turntables, gravel pits, engine, car and freight houses and depots, for making provisions to supply their buildings and engines with water, and for the …

In the cases provided for in RSA 245:23, the parties shall have like remedies for a change of location, including a modification of the right taken, and for an appraisal of damages, as in the case of taking land for a railroad, with the same right of appeal and the same procedure…

Persons authorized to construct and maintain a railroad as provided in RSA 245:2 shall locate the route for their railroad where they deem it most suitable, establishing at convenient distances, not exceeding one mile apart, permanent monuments easily ascertainable. The width of …

Persons authorized to construct and maintain a railroad as provided in RSA 245:2 shall make a return of their location with reference to such monuments to the office of the secretary of state. Such return shall describe the location of the road by courses and distances with refer…

Persons authorized to construct and maintain a railroad as provided in RSA 245:2 may locate and lay out the road in its entire course at one time, or in parts at different and successive times, as they shall deem conducive to the interests of all concerned.

Persons authorized to construct and maintain a railroad as provided in RSA 245:2 shall give a copy of such location to each owner of land included in the location, if known and resident in the state, at least 14 days before application shall be made for an appraisal of the damage…

If any owner of land over which the road is located, or stockholders of the corporation holding 1/10 of its capital stock, are dissatisfied with the location, they may, at any time before damages are assessed, apply by petition to the department of transportation for a change of …

The corporation, either before or after such location, may obtain deeds, or bonds for deeds, of any lands which it deems necessary for its road, or of the right of way over the same.

If from any cause the corporation does not obtain the deeds provided for in RSA 245:8, it may apply by petition to the department of transportation to appraise the damages occasioned to the owners of such lands by the railroad.

It shall be the duty of every railroad to provide suitable crossings, stations and other facilities for the accommodation of the public, and suitable gates, crossings, cattle passes and other facilities for the accommodation of persons whose lands are divided, or are separated fr…

I. In instances where the state has acquired rail properties, the state shall have the same duty as under RSA 246:1 to provide suitable crossings and other facilities for the accommodation of the public and to provide suitable gates, crossings and other facilities for the accommo…

Every railroad shall construct, or improve, and operate and maintain at every grade crossing of its railroad with another railroad or highway such warning signs, gates or other protection; it shall so regulate the speed of its trains across any grade crossing and it shall give su…

The governmental authority responsible for maintaining a highway shall place and maintain warning signs on every highway approaching a crossing at grade of such highway and the tracks of a railroad, at a reasonable distance on each side of such crossing. The department of transpo…

If in the case of any crossing it appears that the placing of such signs is impracticable or unnecessary, the department of transportation, on petition of the governmental authority responsible for maintaining the highway on which such crossing is situated, may release such gover…

A railroad shall not occupy a grade crossing over a highway by its engines and cars more than 5 minutes at one time without authority from the department of transportation.

I. The department of transportation, upon petition, notice and hearing, may fix the maximum time for the occupancy of a railroad on a grade crossing over a highway. The maximum time shall not exceed 9 minutes. II. The commissioner may adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative …

Any person who violates the provisions of any of the preceding sections, or of any order of the department of transportation made hereunder, shall be guilty of a violation if a natural person, or guilty of a misdemeanor if any other person, unless otherwise specifically provided.