Title 05, Title 05: Aeronautics and Surface Transportation

§ 3522. Land without road limits Land without the limits of its road shall not be taken by a railroad corporation for the requisite and convenient accommodation of its road without the permission of the owner unless the commissioners appointed as prescribed in section 3523 of thi…

§ 3523. Appraisal of damages; appointment of commissioners When a railroad corporation has not acquired, by gift or purchase, land, real estate, or property, taken or required for the construction, maintenance, and convenient accommodation of its road, and if the parties do not a…

§ 3524. Notice of time and place of appraisal The commissioners shall give 12 days’ notice to the occupants or owners of the land of the time and place when and where they will attend to the appraisal, but notice shall not be required to be given of the appraisal of unoccupied la…

§ 3525. Description of land and property At least 10 days before an appraisal is made by the commissioners, the corporation shall deliver to the owner, or deposit in the clerk’s office in the town in which the same lies, a plan or description in writing of the land or property so…

§ 3526. Estate for life or years; reversionary interest When a railroad corporation takes land subject to an estate for life or years, the commissioners shall appraise the damages to such estate and also the damages to the reversionary interest.

§ 3527. Notice and statement of appraisal; record When an appraisal is made, the commissioners, within 20 days, shall notify the owner, if known, of the amount thereof, and deliver to the corporation a written statement of the same, with a description of the land or other propert…

§ 3528. Payment or deposit of damages conveys property Upon the payment of the damages, as determined by the commissioners, and including accrued costs and charges, by the corporation or upon the deposit of the same by the corporation in the bank or with the clerk of the Supreme …

§ 3529. When owner is an infant or has an intellectual or psychiatric disability When the owner of the land or estate is an infant, or lacks capacity to protect his or her interests due to an intellectual or psychiatric disability, or does not reside in this State, or is not know…

§ 3530. Appeal to Superior Court When the corporation or the owner of land or property is dissatisfied with the decision of the commissioners, within 90 days after the date of the award either party may appeal to the Superior Court. Such court shall thereupon appoint three commis…

§ 3531. Proceedings in Superior Court respecting damages When a railroad corporation requires for roadway or building materials land, the owner of which is unknown, or where there are conflicting claims to the title, or where such land is encumbered by mortgages, attachments, or …

§ 3532. Notice required before final decree A final decree shall not be made in such case until reasonable notice of the filing of the petition has been given to persons interested, when they are known and reside in the State. When the owners are unknown or reside outside the Sta…

§ 3533. Deposit of damages; sum invested On the deposit of the damages under the order of a Superior judge, the title to the land shall vest in the corporation, subject to the right of appeal as in other cases. If the sum so deposited remains for six months undemanded, a Superior…

§ 3534. Obstruction to private way If a railroad corporation obstructs the travel or means of access to a manufactory, mill, place of business, or dwelling house in laying out, building, grading, or making its road, it shall be liable to pay to the person thereby injured such rea…

§ 3535. Right of action on nonpayment of damages When a railroad corporation has entered upon and used land and real estate for the construction and accommodation of its railroad and has, by its engineers, agents, or servants, entered upon land contiguous to the railroad or the w…

§ 3536. Security from contractors; liability for wages A railroad corporation shall require sufficient security from the contractors for the payment of labor performed in constructing the road by persons in their employ. Such corporation shall be liable to the day laborers employ…

§ 3537. Changes in location After taking land for a portion of its road, a railroad corporation may vary the direction of the road in the place where such land lies, provided it does not thereby locate its road, or a part thereof, outside the limits prescribed by its act of incor…

§ 3538. When other land of same owner is taken, first land to revert When a railroad corporation has paid or becomes liable to pay land damages for the location of its road, and afterwards changes such location and occupies other lands of the same landowner to whom damages have b…

§ 3539. Difference in value; adjustment When the damages awarded on the second location are less than those awarded on the first, the corporation may recover the difference, if paid, from the landowner. If the damages so awarded have not been paid, the corporation may retain the …

§ 3540. Change after damages are paid When the location of a railroad is changed after the payment of damages to a landowner, and a portion of the lands of such owner is not taken for the new location, the lands taken for the first location shall revert to the owner. The railroad…

§ 3541. Change before damages are paid When the location of the road has been changed as mentioned in section 3540 of this title, and the damages have been awarded and not paid, the land first located upon shall revert to the owner thereof. The corporation shall not be required t…

§ 3542. Right to alter highway When it is necessary for a railroad corporation to lay out its road upon or by the side of a highway, or upon a bridge owned by a town or the Agency of Transportation, the railroad corporation shall give notice thereof to a member of the selectboard…

§ 3543. Appeal A railroad corporation, a town, the Agency of Transportation, or an individual owning land adjacent to a road or bridge so entered upon, crossed, or altered shall have the same right of appeal from the decision of the selectboard or the Transportation Board as is p…

§ 3544. Alteration of course of highway at crossing A railroad corporation may alter the course of a highway where it is crossed by its railroad, for the purpose of facilitating the crossing of the same, if it can agree with the selectboard of the town (in the case of a town high…

§ 3545. Alterations to be recorded Alterations made in a highway as provided in this chapter, if made by the Transportation Board, shall be signed by it. If such alterations are agreed upon by the parties, the agreement shall be signed by the selectboard of the town (where the al…

§ 3546. Additional lands A railroad corporation may take additional lands for the purposes mentioned in sections 3543–3545 of this title as the Transportation Board judges necessary. Unless the taken lands are purchased or given, compensation for the lands shall be determined by …

§ 3566. Highway crossing railroad When a highway is laid out after the laying out and constructing of a railroad, so as to cross such railroad, the highway may pass over, under, or cross the railroad and shall be so built as not to obstruct or injure it. In case the highway is la…

§ 3567. Application to Transportation Board The application to the Board, provided in section 3566 of this title, may be made at any time before the expiration of the time fixed in the order laying the highway for beginning work thereon. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(…

§ 3568. Railroad crossing highway A railroad may be so laid out as to cross a highway if the Board judges it necessary. The railroad may raise or lower the highway for the purpose of having its railroad pass over or under it. However, the railroad shall restore the highway as far…

§ 3569. Highway changed; notice; hearing When a highway is so located that such railroad cannot be judiciously constructed across or upon the same without interfering therewith, the railroad corporation, with the consent of the Board, may cause such highway to be changed so that …

§ 3570. Crossing; repairs at town highways When a railroad corporation has constructed a railroad across a town highway by passing upon, over, or under the traveled path thereof, the corporation shall keep in good and sufficient repair, and rebuild when necessary, bridges, culver…

§ 3571. State highways (a) When a railroad corporation has constructed a railroad across a State highway by passing upon the traveled path thereof, the corporation shall keep in good and sufficient repair, and rebuild when necessary, culverts, crossings, and other constructions e…

§ 3572. Highway bridges on State highways (a) When it next becomes necessary to rebuild or reconstruct, in whole or in part, any existing bridge on a State highway that carries a public highway over railroad tracks, the State shall rebuild the bridge and pay one-half the cost the…

§ 3573. Railroad bridges; repairs and construction When a railroad corporation has constructed a railroad across a public highway by passing over the traveled path thereof, the corporation shall keep in good and sufficient repair and rebuild when necessary its bridges and abutmen…

§ 3574. Expense; apportionment; State, municipality, and railroad When made necessary by reason of highway improvement incident to increased load or speed of motor vehicular traffic, upon petition of the railroad corporation owning or operating the crossing mentioned in section 3…

§ 3575. Maintenance of roadbed through an underpass The maintenance of the roadbed of the highway through an underpass shall be borne by the State, in the case of a State highway, or municipality, in the case of a town highway, or both, unless, upon petition, the Board shall orde…

§ 3576. Expense; State highways When a highway is controlled and maintained by the State, the expense shall be borne by the State. (Amended 1969, No. 76, § 6.)

§ 3577. Liability; railroad A railroad corporation constructing a railroad across a highway shall be liable to the town, within whose limits the crossings are, for damages occasioned to that town by reason of the corporation not complying with the provisions of sections 3570 and …

§ 3578. Release of corporation from liability The liability of the corporation shall continue although the railroad has been abandoned, unless the town’s selectboard members consent in writing that the corporation be released from liability, or unless the corporation or its assig…

§ 3579. Towns may require repairs When the selectboard of a town in which such crossing is located is of the opinion that such bridge, culvert, crossing, or construction requires repairing or rebuilding in order to be safe for travel thereon, the selectboard may notify the corpor…

§ 3580. Contract between town and company not affected Nothing in sections 3570-3579 of this title shall interfere with an express contract made by a railroad corporation and a town relative to keeping in repair or rebuilding any such bridge, culvert, crossing, or other construct…

§ 3581. Warning devices and signs at grade crossings; exemption from stopping (a) A railroad shall maintain railroad crossing (crossbuck) signs conforming to the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as amended from time to time, at every pub…

§ 3582. Crossings; use of audible warning device (a) An audible warning device meeting standards prescribed by the Federal Railroad Administration shall be sounded sufficiently in advance of each public highway grade crossing to give warning of a train’s approach and shall be kep…

§ 3583. Penalty When a person or corporation owning or operating a railroad unreasonably neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of sections 3581 and 3582 of this title, such person or corporation shall be fined not more than $1,000.00.

§ 3584. Gates; electric signals; flaggers When requested in writing by three or more freeholders or registered voters or residents of a city or village to order a gate or electric signal to be erected, or a flagger to be stationed at any railroad crossing at grade within such cit…

§ 3585. Procedure for payment of State’s portion of cost In making an order under section 3584 of this title, the Transportation Board shall require the submission of an itemized statement of the cost incurred by the State agency, municipality, corporation, or person responsible …

§ 3586. Obstructing crossings; penalty A person, corporation, or the agents or employees thereof, owning or operating a railroad, who willfully or negligently obstruct a public highway or farm crossing with engines, tenders, or cars, shall be fined not more than $20.00 nor less t…