To incorporate the State Board of Trustees of the Hoosac Tunnel
Railroad.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General
Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:_
SECT. 1. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council,
shall, as soon after the passage of this act as may be convenient,
appoint five persons, citizens of this Commonwealth, who shall, on or
before the first day of July next, take the interest of the
Commonwealth in the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, and the Hoosac
Tunnel when it shall be completed by the contractors, and all the
property and interest of the Commonwealth in the Southern Vermont
Railroad Company, and hold the same in trust for the purposes
hereinafter named, one of whom shall hold his office for five years,
one for four years, one for three years, one for two years and one for
one year, from the ___________ day of ___________. Before the first
day of July in each year, one such trustee shall be appointed for the
term of five years; upon the occurrence of a vacancy before the
expiration of a term, an appointment shall be made for the remainder
of such term.
SECT. 2. Said trustees are hereby created a railroad corporation under
the name of the State Board of Trustees of the Hoosac Tunnel Railroad,
and shall have all the powers and privileges, and be subject to the
duties, restrictions and liabilities set forth in the general laws
relating to railroads, so far as the same may be applicable and not
inconsistent with the provisions of this act.
SECT. 3. Before entering upon their duties, said trustees shall be
sworn to the faithful performance of the same. They shall organize by
the election of a president, who shall be one of said trustees, a
clerk and such other officers as shall be necessary, and they shall
prepare by-laws in accordance with which their meetings shall be held.
SECT. 4. Said board of trustees shall have sole charge, direction and
control, subject to the provisions of this act, of the Troy and
Greenfield Railroad and of the Hoosac Tunnel, when said tunnel shall
be completed by the contractors of the Southern Vermont Railroad, and
of such other railroads as may be leased or acquired under the
provisions of this act. They shall appoint a treasurer, a general
manager, whenever they deem such an officer necessary, one or more
superintendents and such other agents as may be required for the
operation of said railroads and tunnel, and they shall define the
duties and fix the compensation of such officers and agents. They
shall establish rates for the transportation of passengers and
merchandise, and make contracts and arrangements with connecting roads
in relation to joint rates and joint business, and they may do all
other things, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act and the
general laws in relation to rail roads, which may be necessary for the
efficient and economical operation of said railroads and tunnel.
SECT. 5. Said board of trustees shall hold in trust all moneys
received from the operating of said railroads and tunnel, and all
moneys which may be appropriated by the Commonwealth for the
completion, extension and improvement of said railroads and tunnel and
for the equipment thereof, and shall faithfully apply the same. They
shall annually pay into the treasury of the Common wealth the net
income received from said roads and tunnel after the payment of the
expenses; and the same shall be set apart, under the direction of the
governor and council, and applied in such manner and at such times as
they shall direct to either or all of the following purposes: the
extinction of any indebtedness, or payment of interest thereon, which
the Commonwealth may at any time incur to carry out the purposes of
this act, or any act in addition to or amendment thereof; the
extinction of the indebtedness, or payment of interest thereon, which
has been or may be incurred in the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel;
and the purchase of stock in any company which shall lease its
franchises, railroad and property in perpetuity to the corporation
herein before created.
SECT. 6. Said board of trustees shall make a semi-annual report to the
governor and council of their doings during the six months next
preceding, and of their receipts and expenditures, and shall make an
annual report to the board of railroad commissioners in the manner and
form and at the time prescribed for railroad corporations.
SECT. 7. Said trustees shall receive, in full compensation for their
services as such, the sum of five thousand dollars each per annum,
except the president of the board, who shall receive eight thousand
dollars, which sums shall be charged to operating expenses. No trustee
shall be appointed to any office in the employ of said board of
trustees, except the president, but the general manager, when such
officer shall be appointed, shall be _ex officio_ a member of the said
board.
SECT. 8. Said board of trustees is hereby authorized to re-locate,
where necessary, the tracks of said Troy and Greenfield Railroad,
taking land therefor in the method prescribed by law in case of land
taken for depot or station purposes, and to complete, extend and
improve the construction and equipment of said railroad and tunnel,
and to prepare the same in all respects for the reception of the
traffic of a through line.
SECT. 9. The sum of five million dollars is hereby appropriated, to be
expended under the direction of said board of trustees in carrying out
the provisions of this act, to be paid to them from time to time as
the same may be required and called for, by a two-thirds vote of said
board of trustees, on the warrant of the governor. And for the
purpose of providing for said appropriation the treasurer of the
Commonwealth is hereby authorized to issue scrip or certificates of
debt in the name and on behalf of the Commonwealth to an amount not
exceeding five million dollars, to be sold or disposed of in such
manner, and at such times, and in such amounts, as the governor and
council shall direct. Such scrip shall be redeemable in not less than
twenty nor more than, forty years from the date thereof, shall bear
interest not exceeding six per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually,
and shall be known as the "Hoosac Tunnel Railroad Loan"; and the
property of the Commonwealth in the Troy and Greenfield Railroad is
hereby set apart and pledged to the redemption of said scrip.
SECT. 10. Said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to
lease in perpetuity, or for such term of years as the governor and
council may approve, the franchises and property, and thereafter to
maintain, improve and, operate the railroad, with its branches, of the
Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company, on the terms following:
twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad
and property shall be reserved annually by said board of trustees as a
specific fund out of which they shall pay to said company, first, a
sum sufficient to pay the interest on the indebtedness of said
company, at the date of said lease, as said interest becomes due, and,
second, a yearly rental equal to ten per cent. on the present capital
stock of said company, free of all taxes upon the stockholders or
said company (and on any additional stock, when the same shall be
issued for existing convertible bonds), or such a proportion of said
rental, not exceeding said ten per cent. and said taxes as said
reserved fund shall be sufficient to pay: _provided_, _however_, that
in no year shall there be paid to said company a rental of less than
four per cent. on said capital stock, and said taxes together with the
amount of said interest; and to the payment of such minimum rental and
interest said board of trustees is authorized to pledge the faith of
the Commonwealth. Said board of trustees is also authorized to assume
and make provision in said lease for the payment of the principal of
said indebtedness. The surplus of said reserved fund shall be annually
passed by said board of trustees to the account of earnings. When said
lease shall have been executed, and while the same continues in force,
said Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company may elect, from time
to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one trustee, who shall
be added to said board of trustees, and, upon being sworn to the
faithful performance of his duties, shall become an incorporated
member of the State Board of Trustees of the Hoosac Tunnel Railroad;
and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder of the term.
SECT. 11. Said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to
lease in perpetuity, or for such term of years as the governor and
council may approve, the franchises and property, and thereafter to
maintain, improve and operate the railroad, with its branches, of the
Fitchburg Railroad Company, on the terms following: twenty-five per
cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad and property shall
be reserved annually by said board of trustees as a specific fund, out
of which they shall pay to said company a yearly rental equal to ten
per cent. on the present capital stock of said company, free of all
taxes upon the stockholders or said company, and also on an additional
capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, which said company is
hereby authorized to issue and hold for its own benefit, or such a
proportion of said rental, not exceeding said ten per cent. and said
taxes, as said reserved fund shall be sufficient to pay: _provided_,
_however_, that in no year shall there be paid to said company a
rental of less than eight per cent. on said capital stock and said
taxes; and to the payment of such minimum rental, said board of
trustees is authorized to pledge the faith of the Commonwealth. The
surplus of said reserved fund shall be annually passed to the account
of earnings. When said lease shall have been executed, and while the
same continues in force, said Fitchburg Railroad Company may elect,
from time to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one trustee,
who shall be added to said board of trustees, and, upon being sworn to
the faithful performance of his duties, shall become an incorporated
member of the State Board of Trustees of the Hoosac Tunnel Railroad;
and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder of the term.
SECT. 12. Said board of trustees is hereby authorized and directed to
lease the franchises and property, and thereafter to maintain,
improve and operate the railroad, with its branches, of the Troy and
Boston Railroad Company, and shall pay therefor an annual rental equal
to twenty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said leased railroad
and property. When said lease shall have been executed, and while the
same continues in force, said Troy and Boston Railroad Company may
elect, from time to time, for a term not exceeding five years, one
trustee, who shall be added to said board of trustees, and upon being
sworn to the faithful performance of his duties, shall become an
incorporated member of the State Board of Trustees of the Hoosac
Tunnel Railroad; and said company may fill vacancies for the remainder
of the term.
SECT. 13. In estimating what shall constitute the said twenty-five per
cent. of the gross earnings of said several leased railroads, out of
which their rentals are to be paid, there shall be first deducted from
twenty-five per cent. of their respective gross earnings, six per
cent. per annum on all amounts expended by said board of trustees for
the permanent improvement of said railroads respectively.
SECT. 14. Said Vermont and Massachusetts, Fitchburg, and Troy and
Boston Railroad Companies are severally authorized to lease their
franchises and property to said board of trustees.
SECT. 15. Said board of trustees is further authorized, with the
approval of the governor and council, to lease or purchase necessary
terminal facilities, and also to lease any railroad now built, or
that hereafter may be built, lying in the tunnel route between Boston
and Lake Ontario.
SECT. 16. In the carriage of through passengers and merchandise, the
rates of transportation shall be estimated pro rata per mile, and the
Hoosac Tunnel shall be estimated at such length in miles, not
exceeding fifty, as shall seem equitable to the trustees.
SECT. 17. In the management of such railroads as shall come under the
operation of said board of trustees, there shall be no unequal
discriminations in freights, fares or facilities in favor of or
against different persons, places or connecting railroads.
SECT. 18. In case of the lease of the Fitchburg Railroad under the
terms of this act, the said board of trustees is authorized and
directed to purchase terminal facilities in Boston, westerly of the
freight station of the Boston and Maine Railroad and to arrange with
the Eastern Railroad Company for an interchange of stations in Boston
in such manner as to obviate the necessity of passenger trains on the
Eastern Railroad, Boston and Maine Railroad and Fitchburg Railroad
crossing the tracks of the other, and the Eastern Railroad Company is
hereby authorized, with the assent of said trustees, to take or
purchase all the land, depot property and buildings of the Fitchburg
Railroad Company, situated in Boston south of the channel or
passage-way for vessels through the Fitchburg Railroad bridge over
Charles River, said property to include all the draws and drawbridges
over the passage-way for vessels.
Also all the property, land and buildings situated on the
south-westerly side of the following line, to wit: beginning at a
point on the northerly side of the above-mentioned passage-way for
vessels twenty-two feet nine inches east of the easterly line of the
roadway draw over said passage-way, and running northerly at right
angles to said passage-way, one hundred and three feet five inches, to
a point where said line intersects with the north-easterly line of
said Fitchburg Railroad bridge over Charles River; thence northerly,
following and coinciding with said north-easterly line of bridge,
eight hundred and forty-eight feet; thence turning and running
westerly to a point in the north rail of the north passenger track of
the Fitchburg Railroad, distant four hundred and sixteen feet seven
inches from the south-easterly line of Austin Street, measured on said
north rail of the north track. Said point is also distant twenty-nine
feet four inches at right angles from the southerly side of the wooden
freight house (measured from a point sixty feet distant from the
westerly end) belonging to the Fitchburg Railroad Company, on Front
Street; thence southerly, crossing the Fitchburg passenger tracks at
right angles to a point four feet distant south of the south rail of
south passenger track; thence westerly on a curved line parallel with
the south rail of the south passenger track, and four feet distant
therefrom to the south-easterly line of Austin Street in Charlestown.
And if the Eastern Railroad Company shall so fake the said property of
the Fitchburg Railroad Company, then the Fitchburg Railroad Company
shall take or purchase all the like property of the Eastern Railroad
Company lying between the crossing of the Eastern and Fitchburg
Railroads and Causeway Street in Boston, except the parcel of land to
be taken by the Boston and Maine Railroad, as hereinafter provided;
and in case of the taking or exchange of the tracks and property
herein before described, or any part thereof, the said Fitchburg
Railroad Company shall locate and construct such tracks and bridge
structures on the westerly side of the present line of the Eastern
Railroad as may be necessary to connect its railroad and tracks with
the tracks and property so purchased or taken by it; and shall not
thereafter cross either said Eastern Railroad or said Boston and Maine
Railroad except for freight purposes.
And the Eastern Railroad Company shall locate and construct such
tracks and bridge structures as shall be required to connect its
present tracks northerly of its crossing with the Boston and Maine
Railroad with the tracks and property so purchased or taken by it,
keeping at all times east of a line drawn from a point on the easterly
side of its present location, distant southerly three hundred and
fifty feet, measured on said line from its intersection with the
southerly side of Cambridge Street to the point of intersection of the
northerly line of the state prison wharf with the easterly line of the
location of the Boston and Maine Railroad, and thence keeping east of
said easterly line of said location; and shall not thereafter cross
the tracks of the Boston and Maine Railroad.
And the Eastern Railroad Company shall take any lands now belonging to
the Boston and Maine Railroad in Charlestown or Somerville lying
easterly of such new location; and the Boston and Maine Railroad shall
take all the road-bed, land and property of the Eastern Railroad
Company lying between the line above described for the westerly
limitation of said new location of the Eastern Railroad and the
westerly line of the old location of the Eastern Railroad, and the
present northerly line of the Fitchburg Railroad: _provided_,
_however_, that in case of the aforesaid taking and exchange of
property by and between the Eastern and Fitchburg Railroads, the
Boston and Maine Railroad shall release the Eastern Railroad Company
from all damages for its taking and occupation thereof and take from
the said Eastern Railroad Company so much of the premises described in
the first section of the three hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of the
acts of the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two, as was taken from
the said Boston and Maine Railroad by said Eastern Railroad Company
under the provisions of that act; and said Eastern Railroad Company
shall, without other compensation therefor, release to said Boston and
Maine Railroad all their rights in said premises acquired by them,
taking the same under said act; and _provided_, _further_, that any
exchange of land made under the provisions of this section shall take
effect simultaneously.
All general laws relating to the taking of land for railroad purposes
and to the location and construction of railroads, shall be applicable
to and govern the proceedings in the taking and exchange of lands and
property, and in the making of any new locations under the provisions
of the foregoing sections, except that instead of the county
commissioners three disinterested persons shall be appointed by the
supreme judicial court for the county of Suffolk as a board of
commissioners to determine the values of the lands and property so
taken and exchanged or over which any such location may be made, and
to adjudicate the damages to be paid by any of the others upon the
taking, exchange or locations aforesaid, from whose decision an appeal
shall be to a jury in behalf of either party, as provided by law in
the case of lands taken for railroad purposes.
Any sum of money received by the Fitchburg Railroad in said
interchange of stations and tracks above the expense of necessary
alterations shall be applied to procuring new terminal facilities and
making improvements on said road or may be applied to the reduction of
the capital stock of the Fitchburg Railroad Company in such manner as
may be agreed between the Fitchburg Railroad Company and said board of
trustees.
SECT. 19. This act shall take effect upon its passage.