WEST SPRINGFIELD — MassDOT and West Springfield have wrangled $1 million in federal money to build overhead warning lights at a now all-but-invisible freight rail crossing on Memorial Avenue.
But construction — which would be incorporated with the ongoing reconstruction of Memorial due to be completed in 2026 — is held up, Mayor William C. Reichelt told reporters Friday on a tour of business properties near the railyard.
The federal money is part of the $27 million Memorial Avenue reconstruction project that commenced in 2022.
Local 352 Assistant Director Christopher Tyrrell, right, Mayor William C. Reichelt, center, and Department of Public Works Director Trevor Wood stand next to the West Springfield rail yard Thursday. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
At issue are questions of who would be responsible for ongoing maintenance. Would it be the city, the state or the railroad? CSX uses the crossing about once a night. Crews stop the train and ignite road flares to stop traffic as they shuttle freight cars across four busy lanes.
The freight? Tankers of propane and chemicals for businesses on side streets near The Big E.
And The Big E fair complicates operations. Workers at nearby businesses said traffic on the side track goes up in the fall with demand for propane delivered to a distributor by rail. The fair draws more than a million visitors each year in late September.
“The Big E time is crazy,” said Christopher Tyrrell, New England safety and legislative board member for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.
There are plans to erect overhead LED lights and two stop lights to warn drivers and pedestrians of oncoming trains at the Memorial Avenue rail crossing in West Springfield, seen here Thursday. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
“You’ve got cars stopped on the rail all the time.”
Backed up traffic is dangerous for everyone. “The train does have the ultimate right of way,” he said.
West Springfield, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, CSX and the state Department of Public Utilities will all meet in July.
Tyrrell said he expects the DPU, which regulates railroads at the state level, to break the logjam and move the project forward. Under state law, the DPU has the authority to determine the necessary safety measures for grade crossings in the state.
A CSX spokesman said Friday that the railroad is looking forward to the meeting.
“CSX does not control the grade crossing at Memorial Avenue,” Austin Staton wrote in an email. “We remain committed to working with the town of West Springfield and the commonwealth of Massachusetts to improve safety at this grade crossing, as we are in all the communities in which we operate.”
Reichelt said CSX has been frustrating in his 15 years as mayor and before that an attorney representing West Springfield and Agawam.
West Springfield officials and union members also called Friday for a fence running behind businesses on Memorial Avenue to catch trash as it blows from the vast CSX rail yard.
“I get calls from people all the time, ‘Why is there so much trash?’ It’s really bad,” said William E. Forfa, the West Springfield councilor representing the neighborhood. “It’s not fair for the neighborhood to suffer.”
Forfa helped remove 85 bags of trash from a two- or three-block stretch of Union Street, Bridge Street and Memorial Avenue during the communitywide cleanup last month. The haul included 1,045 nip bottles.
The problem is that debris get blown, or even stolen, from the CSX rail yard. Hauling open-topped gondola cars for construction and demolition waste west to landfills is a big part of CSX’s business, Tyrrell said. Netting or other materials don’t always keep it in the cars.
Forfa said passersby also see that junk and feel no inhibitions about adding their own. He’s found tires, mattresses and more.
Staton said fence discussions have only just begun.
“We’ll have more information to share at a later date,” he said.
Just to the west where the railroad crosses Front Street, engineers and officials are still hammering out details of a $20 million overpass project that will include $2 million from CSX.
