reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 160 § 138a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 138a - Warning Devices at Crossings

Section 138A. A railroad corporation whose railroad is crossed by a public way at the same grade shall, at its own expense, install at any such grade crossing designated by the department and used by through passenger trains or cars or through freight trains a device to activate by hand a warning signal which shall audibly or visibly warn an approaching train from the grade crossing of danger at said grade crossing.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 139 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 139 - Regulation by Department of Use of Warning Devices

Section 139. The department, upon petition, and after notice to the railroad corporation and a public hearing, may, for good cause shown, recommend to such railroad corporation such changes as it considers proper in the manner of making up and shifting freight trains or freight cars, and of sounding of whistles on locomotives, and it may by written order forbid or regulate the sounding of whistles on the locomotives of such corporation at any specified grade crossings of the tracks of such corporation with any public way. The corporation which is subject to such order shall, until the order has been modified or annulled by the department, conform in all respects to the terms thereof.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 140 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 140 - Signs Protecting Public Ways

Section 140. Every railroad corporation shall cause boards, supported by posts or otherwise at such height as to be easily seen by travelers, and not obstructing travel, containing on each side in capital letters at least nine inches long the following inscription,—RAILROAD CROSSING—LOOK OUT FOR THE ENGINE,—to be placed and constantly maintained across each public way where it is crossed by the railroad at the same level; or the corporation may substitute therefor warning boards on each side of the crossing, of such form, size and description as the department approves.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 141 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 141 - Signs Protecting a Traveled Place

Section 141. The board of aldermen of a city or the selectmen of a town where a traveled place is crossed by a railroad at the same level, if of opinion that it is necessary for the better security of the public that boards such as are described in the preceding section should be maintained at such traveled place, may in writing request the railroad corporation to erect and maintain them. If it refuses or neglects so to do, they may apply to the department. If the department, after public notice and a hearing, decides that such erection is necessary for the better security of the public, the corporation shall comply with such decision.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 142 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 142 - Signs Erected by Municipalities

Section 142. Every county, city and town shall, except as hereinafter provided, and the department of highways shall, unless in any case it deems it unnecessary or impracticable so to do, place and maintain warning signs on every public way subject to its jurisdiction where the way crosses the tracks of a railroad at grade. Said warning signs shall be placed in a conspicuous location beside the public way on each side of the crossing at a distance of not less than two hundred and fifty feet from the nearest rail of the crossing and shall conform in design with the official standards of the department of highways.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 143 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 143 - Signs Erected by Municipality; Duty to Supply

Section 143. Every railroad corporation shall, within four months after receiving a written request therefor, furnish to any county, city or town in the commonwealth, or to the department of highways, as the case may be, a sufficient number of such warning signs to enable such county, city or town, or the said department, from time to time to comply with the preceding section. The said signs shall be furnished, as aforesaid, without charge, unless they are to be used for replacement purposes, in which case the railroad corporation may require the payment of the net cost thereof.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 144 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 144 - Release of Railroad or Municipality From Duty to Provide Signs

Section 144. When it appears that the placing of the signs prescribed by section one hundred and forty or section one hundred and forty-two or by both of said sections, is impracticable or unnecessary, the department, on petition, may release the railroad corporation or the county, city or town, as the case may be, from compliance with said section or sections.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 145 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 145 - Violations; Penalties

Section 145. If any county, city or town shall neglect, for sixty days, to comply with the requirements of section one hundred and forty-two, unless released therefrom by order of the department of telecommunications and energy, or unless prevented by the failure of any railroad corporation to comply with the requirements of section one hundred and forty-three, or if any railroad corporation shall neglect, for sixty days after the expiration of the four months prescribed in section one hundred and forty-three, to comply with the requirements thereof, it shall forfeit one dollar for each day during which such neglect continues, to be recovered in an action of tort brought in the name and for the use of the commonwealth by the attorney general or by the district attorney of the district where the violation occurred.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 146 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 146 - Damaging Warning Signs; Penalty

Section 146. Any person who unlawfully removes, throws down, injures or defaces any such sign shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten dollars, to the use of the county, city or town placing and maintaining the sign, or of the commonwealth, if the sign is placed and maintained by the department of highways.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 147 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 147 - Gates or Flashing Lights at Crossing of Railroad and Public Way

Section 147. Where a railroad and a public way or travelled place cross at the same level, the department, after notice to the interested parties and a hearing, shall order the crossing to be protected by gates, flagman, flashing light signals or such other protective measures as the department determines the better security of human life or the convenience of public travel requires, and the railroad corporation operating the railroad over the crossing shall install, maintain and operate the protection in compliance with such order. The cost of installing, maintaining and operating such protection shall be apportioned by the department between the railroad passing over the crossing, the town or city in which the highway is located, the county, if the highway is a county road, or the commonwealth, if the highway is a state highway, and any land in a limited and determinable area receiving benefit or advantage, other than the general advantage to the community, from such protection, and in accordance with the relative benefit to be derived by each from such protection, giving due consideration to whether the railroad or the highway was first constructed, to the nature and volume of highway travel, to the number of trains operated by the railroad over the crossing, and to all other relevant facts and circumstances. No part of the cost of installing, maintaining or operating such protection shall be apportioned or charged under this section against any city or town in the fourteen cities and towns or the sixty-four cities and towns, both as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and sixty-one A, with respect to any crossing of a railroad or railroad corporation operated under any contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Any costs apportioned against land under this section shall be levied, assessed and collected in the same manner as a betterment under chapter eighty, so far as applicable.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 147a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 147a - Reflectorizing of Signs, etc., at Crossings

Section 147A. All signs, signal posts, gates or other devices maintained by a railroad corporation at a grade crossing shall be reflectorized in accordance with standards prescribed by the department of telecommunications and energy.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 148 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 148 - Failure to Erect Signs or Install Gates or Lights; Penalty

Section 148. A railroad corporation which unreasonably neglects to comply with an order or decision made under section one hundred and forty-one or one hundred and forty-seven shall forfeit not more than one thousand dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 149 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 149 - Signals at Crossing of Railroad Above Highway Level

Section 149. The department may require a railroad corporation whose railroad crosses a highway by a crossing above the level of the highway to give such signal as the department may designate of the approach of trains to such crossing. The department may in each case determine the nature of the signal to be given, and, in its discretion, may require an automatic signal.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 150 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 150 - Obstruction of View by Standing Wood; Petition for Removal; Payment for Damages

Section 150. If the view of a railroad crossing or highway at grade is obstructed by standing wood in woodlands, the railroad corporation or ten citizens of a town may petition the county commissioners for the county where such crossing is situated for the removal of such standing wood; and the commissioners, after notice and a hearing, shall make such orders as to such removal as the public safety demands. They shall also prescribe the limits within which such standing wood shall be taken, and shall determine the damage sustained. Such damage and the expense incident thereto may be recovered from the railroad corporation under chapter seventy-nine.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 151 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 151 - Obstruction of Public Way by Railroad; Penalty

Section 151. A railroad corporation, or receiver or assignee thereof, or its or his servant or agent, shall not wilfully or negligently obstruct or unnecessarily or unreasonably use or occupy a public way, or in any case wilfully obstruct, use or occupy it with cars or engines for more than five minutes at one time; and if a public way has been thus used or occupied with cars or engines, the railroad corporation, or receiver or assignee thereof, shall not again use or occupy it with the cars or engines of a freight train, until a sufficient time, not less than three minutes, has been allowed for the passage across the railroad of such travelers as were ready and waiting to cross when the former occupation ceased. A railroad corporation, receiver or assignee thereof, who violates this section, shall forfeit not less than two hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 152 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 152 - Reasonable Use of Crossing; Regulation by Department

Section 152. Upon an application to the department, according to section twenty-four of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine, stating that a crossing of a railroad with a public way at the same level is improperly used by a railroad corporation with its freight engines, freight cars or freight trains to the unreasonable inconvenience or danger of the public, the department, after notice, shall hear the parties; and, if public convenience or safety so requires, it may direct that after a date to be fixed by it such railroad corporation shall not use such crossing or any part thereof for making up, connecting or disconnecting freight trains, or the engines or cars of such trains, or for the purpose of distributing freight or freight cars; and to prevent the same may prescribe such changes to be made in the construction of side tracks, branches and connections, in proximity to such crossings, and such regulations limiting the use of such crossings, as may be necessary. The department may at any time modify its order after a hearing and for cause shown.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 153 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 153 - Type of Power Used to Operate

Section 153. A railroad corporation may operate its railroad by electricity, or by such other power as may duly be approved by the department.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 154 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 154 - Brakes and Brakemen

Section 154. Every railroad corporation shall cause a sufficient brake to be attached to every car used upon its railroad for the transportation of passengers, and to every car used for the transportation of freight, except four-wheel cars used only for freight; and shall cause at least one brakeman for every two cars in a passenger train to be stationed thereon, and one brakeman for the last car of every freight train to be stationed thereon. A corporation which violates this section shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 155 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 155 - Control of Brakes by Engineer; Inspection

Section 155. A railroad corporation, in moving traffic between points in the commonwealth, shall not use any locomotive not equipped with a power driving wheel brake and appliances for operating the train brake system; nor run any train in such traffic unless a sufficient number of cars in it are so equipped with power or train brakes that its speed can be controlled by the engineer of the locomotive which is drawing such train, without the use of the common hand brakes by the brakeman. Said brakes and brake appliances shall be tested or examined periodically by the department, and shall be so tested or examined while the cars are in motion and under both normal and emergency conditions. A record of each such test or examination shall be kept by the department. When such corporation has equipped a sufficient number of its cars with such power or train brakes, it may lawfully refuse to receive from connecting lines of railroad any cars used in such traffic which are not sufficiently equipped with such power or train brakes as will work and readily interchange with the brakes in use on its own cars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 156 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 156 - Safety Couplers on Freight Cars

Section 156. A railroad corporation shall cause to be placed upon both ends of every freight car owned by it and which it may lawfully use such automatic or other safety coupler as the department, after an examination and test, may prescribe, and the department may annul any such requirement made by it.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 157 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 157 - Use of Car Not Equipped With Automatic Couplers

Section 157. A railroad corporation, in moving traffic between points in the commonwealth, shall not haul or use, or permit to be hauled or used, on its lines any car which is not equipped with couplers coupling automatically by impact, and which do not require men to go between the cars to uncouple them.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 158 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 158 - Grab Irons

Section 158. A railroad corporation, in moving traffic between points in the commonwealth, until otherwise ordered by the department, shall not use any car, except flat cars equipped with automatic couplers, which is not provided with secure grab irons or hand holds on the ends and sides for greater security to men in coupling and uncoupling cars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 159 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 159 - Standard Height of Draw Bars for Freight Cars

Section 159. The standard height of draw bars for freight cars, measured perpendicularly from the level of the top of the rails to the centres of the draw bars, shall be thirty-four and one half inches for standard gauge railroads and twenty-six inches for narrow gauge railroads, with a maximum variation from such standard height, in either case, of three inches between the draw bars of empty and loaded cars; and no freight car with draw bars which do not comply with the above standard, whether loaded or unloaded, shall be used in moving traffic between points in the commonwealth.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 160 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 160 - Violations; Penalty

Section 160. A railroad corporation which violates any provision of sections one hundred and fifty-five, one hundred and fifty-seven, one hundred and fifty-eight and one hundred and fifty-nine, shall forfeit one hundred dollars, to be recovered in an action of tort brought in the name and for the use of the commonwealth by the attorney general or the district attorney for the district where the offence was committed.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 161 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 161 - Trains Composed of Four-Wheel Cars; Application

Section 161. Sections one hundred and fifty-five and one hundred and fifty-seven to one hundred and sixty, inclusive, shall not apply to trains composed of four-wheel cars, or to locomotives used in hauling such trains.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 162 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 162 - Extension of Time for Equipment

Section 162. The department may from time to time, after hearing and for good cause, exempt, until a date fixed by it, any railroad corporation from the requirements of sections one hundred and fifty-five, one hundred and fifty-seven, one hundred and fifty-eight and one hundred and fifty-nine.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 163 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 163 - Tools and Devices Carried on Trains

Section 163. Every railroad corporation shall equip each of the trains and cars owned or operated by it, for use in case of accident and for safety purposes, with such tools and devices as the department shall order in writing. Said tools and devices shall be kept in a place which shall be so marked as to be easily visible to all passengers. A corporation which violates the provisions of this section shall forfeit five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 163a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 163a - Track Motor Cars; Windshield With Cleaning Device and Canopy

Section 163A. Every railroad corporation shall equip each of the track motor cars operated by it with a windshield and a device for cleaning such windshield, which device shall be maintained in good order and shall be so constructed as to be controlled and operated by the operator of said track motor car; and a canopy or top of such construction as to adequately protect the occupants of such cars from rain, snow and inclement weather.  It shall be unlawful for any railroad corporation to operate any track motor car unless it is equipped with a windshield and canopy or top as provided in this section.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 163b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 163b - Passenger Cars; Safety Windows and Doors

Section 163B. No railroad corporation shall operate a passenger car manufactured after January first, nineteen hundred and seventy-nine, unless it is equipped with at least two windows on each side of said car designed to allow quick and easy egress in case of an emergency, and with access doors which shall open outward from the passenger area of the car, or which slide laterally into the wall of the car.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 165 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 165 - Passenger, Mail or Baggage Car; Heating Devices

Section 165. A passenger, mail or baggage car shall not be heated by a stove or furnace kept in the car or suspended therefrom unless it is temporarily necessary by reason of an accident or other emergency, and no method of heating such cars nor heater shall be used until it shall have been approved in writing by the department; but the department may from time to time grant such exemptions from the requirements of this section as may seem to it necessary or reasonable, and may grant permission to any railroad corporation to make such experiments in heating its passenger cars as the department determines is proper. A corporation which violates this section shall forfeit not more than five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 166 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 166 - Passenger Cars; Illuminating Oil or Fluid

Section 166. A passenger car on a railroad shall not be lighted by naphtha, nor by an illuminating oil or fluid made in part of naphtha or which will ignite at a temperature of less than three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. A corporation which violates this section shall forfeit not more than five hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 160 § 167 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XXII - Corporations|Chapter 160 - Railroads|Section 167 - Platform Gates

Section 167. Every passenger, baggage, mail and express car, equipped with platforms, and owned or regularly used on any railroad in the commonwealth shall be provided at each end thereof with platform gates of a pattern approved by the department. A railroad corporation which hauls or uses, or permits to be hauled or used, on its railroad any car in violation of this section shall forfeit one hundred dollars to the use of the commonwealth, and the attorney general or the district attorney for the district where such violation occurred shall bring an action therefor.