Voting at elections on shares of stock, until.

Proviso.

Application to board of railroad commissioners.

Determina

tion, report.

No increase of fares or rates.

Switch connections.

or in that of any person or corporation acting in its interest, nor attempt to vote the same, at any meeting of the stockholders of such domestic railroad company, nor exercise, nor attempt to exercise, directly or indirectly, any control, direction, supervision or influence whatsoever over the acts or doings of such domestic railroad company by virtue of such holding of stock therein.

SECTION 2. No domestic railroad company shall prior to said date permit any shares of its capital stock owned or controlled by a corporation, as designated in section one, or by any person or corporation acting in its interest, to be voted on behalf of said corporation by its officers, attorneys or agents, or any other person, at any corporate election for directors or officers of such domestic railroad company. No such domestic railroad company, or any officer, director, servant or agent thereof, shall permit or suffer the said corporation designated in section one or any of its officers or agents to exercise any control whatsoever over the corporate acts of such domestic company. No officer, agent, servant or employee of such corporation shall prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred and eight, be elected or appointed or serve or act as an officer, agent, servant or employee of such domestic railroad company: provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to any vote upon such shares of stock nor to any action taken under the provisions of section three of this act; nor shall the provisions of this section apply to the election, appointment, service and acts of any officer, agent, servant or employee of any domestic railroad company that may have been lawfully owned, leased or operated prior to the first day of May, nineteen hundred and seven, by such railroad corporation as is designated in section one. If at any annual meeting or at any other meeting held for the purpose of electing officers less than a majority of the stock of such domestic railroad company is represented, no election of officers shall take place.

SECTION 3. 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 board of railroad commissioners for its determination as to whether the consolidation of the railroads of such corporations is consistent with the public interest. If the board, after public notice and a hearing, shall find that such consolidation is consistent with the public interest, it shall report its findings to the general court, together with drafts of a law or laws to authorize such consolidation upon the agreement of the corporations to be consolidated, and after ratification by a vote of not less than two thirds in interest of the stockholders in each, and under terms and conditions which will effectually prevent any decrease in the facilities for transportation on the railroad of either of such corporations or any increase in the rates for passengers or freight by the said consolidation, and which will, in the opinion of the board, secure to the Commonwealth adequate control over the organization, conduct, and management of the said corporations and railroads, and upon such other terms and conditions as may seem to the board desirable and proper.

SECTION 4. In case of any lease, purchase and sale or consolidation as authorized by the foregoing 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 connection therewith or as a result thereof shall there be any increase in the aggregate outstanding capital stock or indebtedness of the contracting companies. SECTION 5. A railroad corporation, upon the application of any shipper tendering freight for transportation, shall construct, maintain and operate upon reasonable terms a switch connection or switch con

nections with a lateral line of railroad or private side track owned, operated or controlled by such shipper and shall, upon the application of any shipper, provide upon its own property a side track and switch connection with its line of railroad, whenever such side track and switch connection are reasonably practicable, can be put in with safety, and the business therefor is sufficient to justify the same.

connections,

missioners.

SECTION 6. If any railroad corporation shall fail to install or operate Switch any such switch connection with a lateral line of railroad or any such failure to side track and switch connection as aforesaid, after written application install, etc. Appeal to therefor has been made to it, any person interested may present the facts railroad comto the board of railroad commissioners by written petition, and the board shall investigate the matters stated in such petition, and give such hearing thereon as it may deem necessary or proper. If the board be of opinion that it is safe and practicable to have a connection, substantially as prayed for, established or maintained, and that the business to be done thereon justifies the construction and maintenance thereof, it shall make an order directing the construction and establishment thereof, specifying the reasonable compensation to be paid for the construction, establishment and maintenance thereof, and may in like manner upon the application of the railroad corporation order the discontinuance of such switch connection.

SO

tracts.

SECTION 7. Section sixty-seven of Part I of chapter four hundred 1906, 463, Part I. § 67 and sixty-three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and six is hereby amended. amended, by inserting after the word "companies", in the fourth line, missioners to Railroad comthe words: or a contract that either corporation shall perform all the approve contransportation upon and over the road of the other, and by adding at the end thereof the words:- or to contract with any other railroad corporation or street railway company that either corporation shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other, as to read as follows:- Section 67. A lease or purchase and sale of the franchise and property of a railroad corporation, or street railway company, and a consolidation of two or more railroad corporations, or street railway companies, or a contract that either corporation shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other, whether authorized by general laws or a special act, shall not be valid or binding until the terms thereof shall, after public notice and a hearing, have been approved by the board of railroad commissioners, and a certificate signed by said board, setting forth the vote of approval, shall have been filed in the office of the secretary of the commonwealth. Said board shall announce its decision within thirty days after the final hearing upon the application of any railroad corporation or street railway company for permission to lease or sell to, consolidate with or purchase the franchise and other property of, any other railroad corporation or street railway company, or to contract with any other railroad corporation or street railway company that either corporation shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other.

amended.

SECTION 8. Section two hundred and nine of Part II of chapter four 1906, 463, hundred and sixty-three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and Part II 209 six is hereby amended by striking out after the word "section", in the thirteenth line, the words "two hundred and seven", and inserting in place thereof the words: sixty-seven of Part I of this act, so as to read as follows:- Section 209. Two railroad corporations, which are incorporated under the laws of this commonwealth, and whose railroads enter upon or connect with each other, may contract that either corporation shall perform all the transportation upon and over the railroad of the other; and any such corporation may lease its railroad to any other

Penalty.

Jurisdiction to enforce.

Not to ratify previous acts.

Repeal.

such corporation; but the facilities for travel and business on either of the railroads of said corporations shall not thereby be diminished. Such leases shall be upon such terms as the directors agree, and as a majority in interest of the stockholders of both corporations at meetings called for the purpose approve, subject to the provisions of section sixty-seven of Part I of this act. The income arising from such contracts or leases shall be subject to the provisions of law relative to the right of the commonwealth to purchase the railroads of the railroad corporations or to reduce their tolls, in the same manner as that arising from the use of the railroads. Copies of such contracts or leases shall be deposited with the board of railroad commissioners, and full statements of the facts shall be set forth in the next annual return of such corporations. The provisions of this section shall not authorize a lease or contract between two railroad corporations, each of which has a terminus in the city of Boston. The railroads of two railroad corporations shall be considered to enter upon or connect with each other, within the meaning of this section, if one of such railroads enters upon, connects with, or intersects a railroad leased to the other or operated by it under a contract as herein authorized.

SECTION 9. A railroad corporation, as hereinbefore designated, which violates the provisions of the first three sections of this act, shall be punished by a fine of ten thousand dollars for each offence; and any officer or agent of such railroad corporation who procures, aids or abets such corporation in any violation of said sections, and any partnership, trustee or other person who procures, aids or abets in any violation thereof, shall be punished by fine of one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year nor less than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SECTION 10. The supreme judicial court shall have jurisdiction in equity upon petition of the attorney-general or of any stockholder in such domestic railroad company to compel the observance, and to restrain any violation, of the provisions of this act.

SECTION 11. Nothing in this act contained shall be construed as sanctioning or ratifying any acquisition heretofore made by any corporation owning, leasing, or operating a railroad in this commonwealth, or by any person, association, trust, or corporation acting in its behalf or controlled by it, of any shares or a beneficial interest in any shares of stock in a domestic railroad company.

SECTION 12. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved June 28, 1907.

SECTION 68. Sections twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five of chapter one hundred and eight of the Revised Laws, sections eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, seventy-five, seventy-six, one hundred and thirty-four, one hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and thirty-six, one hundred and thirty-seven, one hundred and thirty-eight, one hundred and thirty-nine, one hundred and forty-nine, one hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty-one, one hundred and fifty-two, one hundred and fifty-three, one hundred and fifty-four, one hundred and fifty-five, one hundred and fifty-six, one hundred and fifty-seven, one hundred and fifty-nine, one hundred and sixty, one hundred and sixty-nine,

two hundred and twenty-three, two hundred and twenty-four, two hundred and fifty-one, two hundred and sixty, two hundred and sixty-two, two hundred and sixty-three, two hundred and sixty-seven and two hundred and seventy-eight of chapter one hundred and eleven of the Revised Laws, sections sixty-three and ninety-four of chapter one hundred and twelve of the Revised Laws, section nineteen of chapter one hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Laws, chapters two hundred and ninety-eight, four hundred and two, four hundred and thirtytwo, four hundred and forty, five hundred and seven and five hundred and thirty-three of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and two; chapters one hundred and seventy-three, two hundred and ninety-seven and four hundred and seventy-eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and three; chapters ninety-six, two hundred and sixty-five, three hundred and fiftyseven and four hundred and twenty-nine of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and four; chapter four hundred and eight of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and five; and, so far only as they apply to railroads or street railways or to railroad corporations or street railway companies or to their officers, agents or employees, sections thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and twenty of chapter one hundred and eight of the Revised Laws, sections seventeen and eighteen of chapter one hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Laws and section thirty-nine of chapter one hundred and sixtyseven of the Revised Laws are hereby repealed.

Construction of provisions,

etc., not

SECTION 69. The provisions of this act so far as they are etc. the same as those of existing statutes, shall be construed as a continuation thereof and not as new enactments, and a reference in a statute which has not been repealed to provisions of law which have been wholly or partially revised and reenacted herein shall be construed as applying to such provisions Proceedings, as incorporated in this act. The repeal of a law by this act affected. shall not affect any act done, ratified or confirmed, or any right accrued or established, or any action, suit or proceeding commenced under any of the laws repealed before the repeal took effect, or any action, suit or prosecution pending at the time of the repeal for an offence committed, or for the recovery of a penalty or forfeiture incurred, under any of the laws repealed, but the proceedings shall, when necessary, conform to the provisions of this act. Any provision of this act by which a punishment, penalty or forfeiture is mitigated may be extended and applied to any judgment pronounced after said repeal. Whoever, when said repeal takes effect, holds an office under any of the laws repealed shall continue to hold it according to the tenure thereof unless it is abolished or unless a different provision relative thereto is made by this act.

Definitions. 1874, 372, § 2. P. S. 112, § 1.

1892, 110.

MATTERS OF CONSTRUCTION.

SECTION 1. In this act unless the context otherwise requires: "Railroad and railways" means all railroads and railways

1898, 578, § 1. except tramways in mines and marine railways.

1901, 503.

R. L. 111, § 1.

"Railroad" means a railroad or railway of the class usually operated by steam power.

"Railroad corporation" means the corporation which lays out, constructs, maintains or operates a railroad of the class usually operated by steam power.

"Board of aldermen" or "selectmen" includes the board or other authority exercising the powers of a board of aldermen or of selectmen; but nothing herein shall be construed as affecting the veto power of a mayor of any city.

"Public way" means any way laid out by public authority. SECTION 2. The duties imposed by the provisions of this act upon county commissioners as a tribunal of original jurisdiction relative to the fixing of routes or to the location, construction, maintenance and operation of railroads shall, in the city of Boston, unless it is otherwise expressly provided, devolve upon the board of aldermen of said city. When, in cases arising in said. city, a jury is required, application therefor shall be made to the superior court in the manner prescribed in section ninety of chapter forty-eight of the Revised Laws, and duties imposed