{"id":1207,"date":"2013-03-25T19:22:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/"},"modified":"2017-03-21T18:54:46","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T18:54:46","slug":"former-railroad-rights-of-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many cities and towns, particularly in greater Boston, are criss-crossed with former railroad lines and rights of way, some of which have not been used in many decades, and may not be discernible by inspection. Purchasers and developers of Massachusetts real estate should be aware of two statutes which affect former railroad property: (i) General Laws chapter 161C, \u00a77 creates a right of first refusal on the proposed sale, transfer, or disposition of railroad property in favor of the Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation (the \u201cSecretary\u201d); and (ii) perhaps more troubling , G.L. c. 40, \u00a754A requires the consent of the Secretary prior to issuance of a permit to build a structure of any kind on land formerly used as \u201ca railroad right-of-way <em>or any property appurtenant thereto,\u201d <\/em>a term which includes former railroad property that may be located outside of the former right-of-way.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of purchases directly from a railroad company, G.L. c. 161C, \u00a77 requires the railroad company to make an offer in writing to the Secretary, who may notify the railroad company in writing of its rejection of such offer, or in the event that no response is received within ninety calendar days from the date upon which such offer is made, then the sale or transfer may be completed.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The permitting problem under G.L. c. 40, \u00a754A is more difficult to satisfy because it relates to <b><em>former<\/em><\/b> railroad rights-of-way, which, because of the passage of time, may not readily be disclosed by inspection or by a fifty year title examination.\u00a0 Cases continue to arise in which recently constructed buildings are later determined to have been built without the benefit of the Secretary\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n<p>The mere fact of former railroad ownership is not a defect in title which may be covered by title insurance, but is an issue of marketability, and, in any event, is excluded from coverage by the standard forms of title insurance policy which explicitly exclude laws and governmental regulations which restrict, regulate, or prohibit occupancy, use or enjoyment, dimensions or locations of improvements which may be erected on insured land.\u00a0 The 1994 case of <b><em>Somerset Savings Bank v. Chicago Title Insurance Company<\/em><\/b>, 420 Mass. 422 makes clear that G.L. c. 40, \u00a754A \u201cdoes not affect the owner\u2019s title to the property.\u00a0 It is a restriction that may affect the value of the property and the marketability of the parcel, but it has no bearing on the title . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the event that title discloses the existence of a former railroad right-of-way or land appurtenant thereto, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has established a procedure to obtain such consent by making application with a request for a public hearing, and submission of development plans through a local building inspector, including the location of proposed buildings and current and\/or former railroad property line boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>Although no regulations have been promulgated by the Department of Transportation a \u201cStatement of Procedures\u201d has been adopted.\u00a0 In the event that the Secretary does not consent to the issuance of a permit for construction, then a property owner may recover from the Commonwealth under the provisions of G. L. c. 79, as a taking by eminent domain.\u00a0 In the event that an owner discovers that buildings and improvements have been constructed without having obtained consent from the Secretary an application may be made retroactively, though in that event eminent domain damages may be limited.<\/p>\n<p>The best way to protect a purchaser is through a thorough and vigilant title examination, including a search for evidence of former ownership by any railroad company, or use as a railroad right-of-way, which may be disclosed either in the direct chain of title, or in confirming boundaries of adjacent properties, or by reference to municipal and regional atlases which may depict former railroad rights-of-way and other prior uses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many cities and towns, particularly in greater Boston, are criss-crossed with former railroad lines and rights of way, some of which have not been used in many decades, and may not be discernible by inspection. Purchasers and developers of Massachusetts real estate should be aware of two statutes which affect former railroad property: (i) General [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many cities and towns, particularly in greater Boston, are criss-crossed with former railroad lines and rights of way, some of which have not been used in many decades, and may not be discernible by inspection. Purchasers and developers of Massachusetts real estate should be aware of two statutes which affect former railroad property: (i) General [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Real Estate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"277\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sherin and Lodgen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sherin and Lodgen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sherin and Lodgen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44\"},\"headline\":\"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":633,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13719846_s.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Development\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/\",\"name\":\"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13719846_s.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13719846_s.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/13719846_s.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":277,\"caption\":\"13719846 - country railroad crossing: a narrow gravel road crosses a set of railroad tracks in rural virginia.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/2013\\\/03\\\/25\\\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/\",\"name\":\"Real Estate\",\"description\":\"Commercial Real Estate News from Sherin and Lodgen\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44\",\"name\":\"Sherin and Lodgen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sherin and Lodgen\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sherin.com\\\/real-estate\\\/author\\\/sherinlodgen\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate","og_description":"Many cities and towns, particularly in greater Boston, are criss-crossed with former railroad lines and rights of way, some of which have not been used in many decades, and may not be discernible by inspection. Purchasers and developers of Massachusetts real estate should be aware of two statutes which affect former railroad property: (i) General [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/","og_site_name":"Real Estate","article_published_time":"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":277,"url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sherin and Lodgen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sherin and Lodgen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/"},"author":{"name":"Sherin and Lodgen","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/#\/schema\/person\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44"},"headline":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way","datePublished":"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/"},"wordCount":633,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg","keywords":["Development"],"articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/","name":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way - Real Estate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg","datePublished":"2013-03-25T19:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-21T18:54:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/#\/schema\/person\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/03\/13719846_s.jpg","width":450,"height":277,"caption":"13719846 - country railroad crossing: a narrow gravel road crosses a set of railroad tracks in rural virginia."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/2013\/03\/25\/former-railroad-rights-of-way\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Railroad Rights-of-Way"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/","name":"Real Estate","description":"Commercial Real Estate News from Sherin and Lodgen","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/#\/schema\/person\/96bd34e7823afde2e3e7e561023c5a44","name":"Sherin and Lodgen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d98a5f87b44b7c14488b62c802e175aba108d19bda0d855a9f1cc4924948f5fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sherin and Lodgen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/author\/sherinlodgen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherin.com\/real-estate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}