North Grafton residents speak out against making East Street one-way

To make a quiet zone at the intersection of Routes 30 and 140, the trade-off is to make East Street one way — and that, in addition to noise from the Grafton & Upton Railroad, had North Grafton residents up in arms Wednesday night.

The railroad is in the midst of planning federally funded improvements, including new gates to block cars and new sections of track. The big question facing the railroad: while it’s adding safety features to Grafton’s most convoluted intersection, can it help the town with the intersection?

The answer from about 20 residents who attended the meeting: not if it means making East Street one-way, even if it’s the only option that would take away horns at the railroad crossing.

“The railroad is happy with any one of these options we’re going to talk about,” Grafton & Upton Railroad president Michael Minanowski said. “The railroad just goes back and forth across the tracks. But we want to be a good neighbor.”

The three options:

Option A, which uses the existing intersection geometry with only rail safety improvements;

Option B, which would add a southbound turning lane;

Option C, which adds the southbound turning lane and converts East Street into one way eastbound.

Residents spoke universally against Option C, questioning the safety of school buses and the increase in traffic on side streets.

“You’re not making traffic disappear.,” one man argued. “You’re merely re-routing traffic.”

Federal law requires the sounding of the train horn four times when crossing a street. In areas without gates, the railroad must also use a flag man to stop traffic.

It’s not always a successful method. Cars may attempt to race the train to the intersection, with drivers gambling that they can beat a train that only goes a maximum of 10 mph. The gates are meant to reduce the problem and eliminate the need for flagmen.

While the potential for a quiet zone was the purpose of the meeting, residents also spoke out about other complaints, including noise from the train yard at night.

Milanoski acknowledged that the railroad now has two locomotives running overnight during the winter, a situation they hope to resolve by moving them into a new heated facility next week.

“It’s not that we want to run them 24-7. We don’t,” he said. “It uses fuel… but it doesn’t have antifreeze.”

“How come you don’t put antifreeze in them?” a man asked.

“That’s just not how they’re designed,” Milanoski said.

Another resident accused the railroad of blocking Waterville Street (Route 30) while adding cars, which he said had the train blowing its horn 20 times Wednesday morning. Others complained about train noise late at night, which Milanowski said was actually from CSX delivering train cars.