SECTION 54. Approval by department; public hearing

A lease or purchase and sale of the franchise and property of a railroad corporation, or railway company, and a consolidation of two or more railroad corporations, or railway companies, or a contract that either corporation or company 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 department, and a certificate signed by it, setting forth the vote of approval, shall have been filed in the office of the state secretary. The department shall announce its decision within thirty days after the final hearing upon the application of any railroad corporation or railway company for permission to lease or sell to, consolidate with or purchase the franchise and other property of, any other railroad corporation or railway company, or to contract with any other railroad corporation or railway company that either corporation or company shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other.

This section may be enforced as provided in section two hundred and fifty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty.