The avoidance of railroad crossings is undoubtedly of great importance, but it has no proper connection with the disposal of the tunnel. The Eastern Railroad Company and Boston and Maine Railroad are agreed what changes can and should be made to avoid these crossings. All that is essential to secure this end is to remove the passenger station of the Fitchburg Railroad west of the Lowell, where it properly belongs. The legislature has full power in the premises. It can, independently of any consolidation, require the Fitchburg Railroad Company to provide passenger accommodations west of the Lowell station, and thus leave its present station on Causeway Street free for the use of the Eastern Railroad Company. If the State acquires the Fitchburg Railroad under this Act, it can easily provide for the change. The whole question of interchange of depots is independent of the far more important question of the disposition of the tunnel, and should not control it. If the Lowell Railroad can provide for the wants of the Fitchburg Railroad Company in its passenger station after consolidation, it can do so without consolidation. Respectfully submitted by E. P. CARPENTER, J. K. BAKER, T. W. WELLINGTON, WILLIAM BAKER, _Members of the Committee on Railways._ Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ------------- In the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-Three. ------------- AN ACT 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.