Upton Town Manager Blythe Robinson advised the Upton Board of Selectmen at their last meeting an agreement had been reached between the Grafton Upton Railroad, the developers of the Crosswinds subdivision, and the State of Massachusetts on what type of safety equipment should be installed for the crossing at the entrance to the development.
Crosswinds is a 32 lot subdivision project located off of Plain Street and Station Street in the southern section of Upton. At the entrance to the subdivision will be a railroad crossing on Grafton and Upton RR line. There had been some dispute as to what type of safety equipment was required at the crossing. Robinson said, the State of Massachusetts clarified it’s up to the railroad that owns the land to determine what they believe is an appropriate safety measure. The State indicated they would not approve anything less than what the railroad said it needs.
The Grafton and Upton Railroad requested the crossing be installed with gates and lights. Robinson said, “When it’s finished it might seem a little strange to people that a crossing to a development has lights and a gate when the other 8 in town do not.” Robinson explained the rule book for new crossings is different from the rule book for existing crossings. Robinson also said, “This doesn’t mean we aren’t chasing grant funds for the other crossings and want to address that at some point.”
According to Robinson the developer will set up a fund to support the future maintenance of the crossing. Robinson said, “The developer is responsible for the maintenance; the crossing is not the Town’s responsibility.”
UPTON DAILY 