§ 3725. Statutes made part of charters of railroad 1895, ch. 185. companies. The provisions of §§ 3680, 3682, 3683, 3684, 3685, 3687, 3690, 3691, 3698, 3702, 3705, 3707, 3722, and 3726 shall be deemed a part of the charter of every company authorized to construct, own, or operate any steam railroad within this state, and all powers and privileges conferred and all duties and obligations imposed upon such companies by said sections are conferred or imposed upon such companies in the same manner and to the same extent as if the provisions of said sections were parts of the charters of such companies.

§ 3726. Easements and private crossings may be condemned. The owner of any private crossing at grade of the tracks of a railroad company, or of any right, title, interest, easement, or privilege in land used by a company for railroad purposes, or any such company whose land is incumbered by any such private rights, may bring a written petition to the railroad commissioners for the condemnation of such rights, alleging that public safety requires the elimination of such incumbrance. The commissioners shall thereupon appoint a time and place for hearing the petition, and shall give such notice thereof as they shall judge reasonable to the owner of such rights, to the company, and to the owners of land adjoining the highway to be laid out as a substitute for such private crossing, as hereinafter provided, if any such highway is to be laid out. Upon the hearing of said petition, if public safety so requires, the commissioners shall authorize the company to condemn such private rights, and thereupon the company may proceed to condemn the same in the manner provided by law for the taking of lands by such companies. Upon the hearing of said petition, if the commissioners shall be of opinion that public convenience and necessity require a highway on account of the elimination of such private rights in the land of the railroad company, they may lay out a highway sufficient to satisfy public convenience; but such highway shall not be laid out if the land of a private owner, with which the incumbrance is associated, is already connected with a public highway. If the commissioners shall order a new highway, as hereinbefore set forth, they shall assess the expense of making the same, including the damages to any person whose land is taken, proportionally, upon the person

§ 8726. Sult by company, for injunction against removal of fence closing farm crossing, a sufficient suit under this section. 60 C. 200.

1876.

Rev. 1888, $5466. 1889, ch. 148, 1603, ch. 263, §§1,

252.

2, 3.

1897, ch. 207, §1.

1909, ch. 64.

1897, ch. 207, §2.

1884.

Rev. 1888, §3488.

and parties especially benefited thereby, but at least one-half of such expense shall be paid by the company. The commissioners may order the elimination of any private crossing at grade, as aforesaid, by the substitution of an overhead or underneath crossing, in which case the expense of making such change, including land damages, shall be paid by the company. Any person aggrieved by any order or judgment of the commissioners under this section may appeal from such order or judgment to the superior court for the county in which the land lies, in accordance with the provisions for appeals in § 3747.

§ 3727. Highway crossing discontinued. When the use of a highway crossing over a railroad has been abandoned for fifteen years, such crossing shall be deemed discontinued.

Right of railroad to take land upon discontinued highways. When any highway, or portion thereof, in which are located tracks of any railroad or railway, shall be lawfully discontinued, the company owning or operating such railroad or railway shall have the right, with the approval of the railroad commissioners, to take land for its railroad or railway within the limits of such highway or part thereof discontinued, in the manner provided in section 3687 of the general statutes.

§ 3728. When crossing must be restored. When a private crossing has been removed by a railroad company without the consent of the owner or owners, the company from whose tracks such crossing has been removed shall restore the same in good order upon the written request of the owner or owners, and for failure so to do such company shall forfeit five dollars per day to the person or persons owning or having a right to use such crossing, such forfeiture to begin thirty days from the date of such notice.

§ 3729. Repairs and maintenance of changed highway. When the commissioners, in accepting the layout of any railroad company, have in such acceptance provided that portions of such railroad shall not be constructed until certain highways have been relocated or changed by such company, and the obligation of repairing or maintaining the whole or any part of such highways is imposed upon any person or corpora§ 3729. When the jurisdictions of railroad commissioners and municipal authorities conflict, the commissioners prevail. 66 C. 222.

tion other than the town, city, or borough within which such highway may be located, such provision shall be binding upon the company, and it shall be its duty to maintain and repair said highway so relocated or changed, in the same manner and to the same extent that such other person or corporation was bound to repair and maintain the same before such relocation or change. For the purposes of this section, land may be acquired in the manner provided by law for the taking of land by railroad companies. Any such company may use the material and abutments of any existing bridge in the old highway, in the construction of a bridge in the substituted highway, and shall provide suitable temporary accommodations for public travel over the old highway until the new highway is completed, and shall be solely responsible for injuries resulting from its negligence in the matter of such temporary accommodations. The selectmen of any such town may discontinue such parts of the old highway as in their judgment are not of public convenience and necessity.

rail§ 3730. Guards for rails at crossings. When any road is crossed by a highway at the same level, the company operating such railroad shall, at its own expense, so guard its rails by plank or otherwise as to secure a safe and easy passage across its road. If the selectmen of any town, the mayor of any city, or the warden of any borough shall represent in writing to the railroad commissioners that a company has failed to comply with the requirements of this section in regard to any highway within such town, city, or borough, said commissioners shall examine such crossing and make such order as they may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

§ 3731. Bridge guards. Penalty. Every railroad company shall, if required by the commissioners, erect and thereafter maintain suitable bridge guards at every bridge over its railroad when the overhead structure is less than eighteen feet in height above the track. Such bridge guards shall be approved by the commissioners, and be erected and adjusted to their satisfaction. Every company refusing or neglecting to comply with the provisions of this section shall forfeit fifty dollars to the state for each month of continuance in such refusal or neglect.

§ 3730. City has no power to repair crossing neglected by railroad; remedy 19 through commissioners. 70 C. 397.

1884.

Rev. 1888, 89409.

1878. Rev.1888, 888501, 8502.

1866.

Rev. 1888, $3503.

1850, 1874. Rev. 1888, §3504.

1881. Rev. 1888, §3505.

§ 3732. Footways on railroad bridges. When in the opinion of the selectmen of any town, or of the common council of any city, a footway upon the line of any railroad bridge or causeway within the limits of such town or city would be of public convenience, and the railroad company owning such bridge or causeway shall not consent thereto, such selectmen or common council may call out the railroad commissioners, who, after due notice to such company, shall inquire into the facts, at the expense of such town or city. If the commissioners shall find that a footway along such bridge or causeway would be of public convenience, they shall authorize such town or city to construct or maintain the same at their own expense, and to attach the same for support to such bridge or causeway. Such footway shall be constructed entirely outside of the bridge or causeway to which it is attached, and so constructed, maintained, and used as not to interfere with the necessary and proper use of such bridge or causeway.

§ 3733. Cattle guards. Every railroad company shall construct suitable cattle guards and fences at all railroad crossings of passways or highways, to prevent cattle from passing upon its railroad, except when the railroad commissioners deem it unnecessary.

§ 3734. Fences. Every company shall erect and maintain fences on the sides of the railroads operated by it, at such places as the commissioners shall direct; and every company operating any railroad constructed under any act of incorporation passed since the first Wednesday of May, 1850, or hereafter constructed, shall erect and maintain sufficient fences on the sides of such railroad, except at such place or places as the commissioners shall judge them unnecessary. Such fences shall be erected by all companies hereafter organized, within twelve months after they take possession of the lands through which their layout extends.

§ 3733. This section operates as an amendment to all railroad company charters. 27 C. 479.

§ 3734. Where act authorizing commissioners' order to fence was repealed. order became void and was not revived by reënactment of same statute. 49 C. 139. When fences were to be erected where ordered by commissioners, company was not obliged to fence until order was made. 50 C. 128. Where there were repeated grants of power, and company acted under last, it was held subject to obligation to fence, which did not apply to companies incorporated under

§ 3735. Order for fencing. Said commissioners shall make special investigation as to the condition of the fences on the line of any railroad, when so requested in writing, and if they deem it necessary, shall issue their order directing the company operating such railroad to erect or repair such fences. Said order shall specify the place or places, the manner in which and the time within which the fences are to be erected or repaired, and shall be served upon the company. Such service may be made by mailing a registered letter addressed to the secretary of the company.

1881.

Rev. 1888, §3506.

1893, ch. 210.

1881.

§ 3736. Penalty. If any railroad company shall neglect Rev. 1888, 3507. to comply with any such order it shall forfeit to the state one hundred dollars per month for each month of such neglect. The commissioners shall give notice of all such forfeitures to the state treasurer, who shall collect the same. Any person who, without neglect on his part, shall suffer damage by reason of the neglect of any company to erect or maintain fences as required by law, may recover such damage from such company.

1881.

§ 3737. When adjoining owner neglects duty to fence. Rev. 1888, $3508. When it shall be the duty of the owner of land adjoining any railroad to erect or maintain a fence between such land and such railroad, and such owner shall have neglected to erect or maintain the same, and it shall have been erected or maintained by the railroad company in conformity to the order of the commissioners, such company may collect the cost of erecting and maintaining such fence from such owner. Such cost shall be a lien in favor of such company on such land, and shall take precedence of every other lien or incumbrance on said land, and may be foreclosed in the same manner as a mortgage lien; but shall not continue in force unless such company shall, within sixty days after the completion of such fence, lodge a certificate with the town clerk of the town in which said land is situated, describing said land and specifying the amount claimed as a lien thereon, and the dates of the commencement and completion of such fence, which certificate shall be recorded by said clerk on the land records of said town.

earlier grants. 51 C. 403. Unless required by special statute, company is not bound to maintain such fences as will keep boys off the track. 53 C. 473. Company not required to maintain fence between its tracks and those of another company. 57 C. 442.

§ 3736. This section should receive a reasonable rather than a literal construction. 57 C. 444.