White River Junction
But a New England Central Railroad official said the company has taken steps to resolve the problem, and that area residents should not expect any unscheduled blockages of the Nutt Lane rail crossing in the future.
The town and railroad worked together to notify residents about the closure, which began at 7 a.m. and was done shortly before 5 p.m., allowing a crew of about a half-dozen workers to rebuild the railroad crossing on Nutt Lane.
While the road was blocked, town officials opened a gate at the north end of Latham Works Lane, which allowed those who live and work in the neighborhood to drive along a short dirt path that crossed the train tracks of the rail yard twice, and connected to the rear of a parking lot that serves the White River Junction Station, and the Windsor County District Court building.
Hartford Town Manager Leo Pullar said the construction originally was scheduled to take place a week earlier, but that the railroad agreed to delay the project so the town could give more warning to residents.
Those who work and live in the Latham Works Lane neighborhood, a low-lying area that is surrounded by the Connecticut River to the east and the railroad tracks to the west, said that, in the past, they’ve experienced a recurring problem in which a train would block Nutt Lane for anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes. During these unscheduled blockages, the gate guarding the dirt drive would remain locked, leaving those inside the neighborhood with no option but to wait.
Randy Herrin, who has worked at Hartford’s wastewater treatment plant at the end of Latham Works Lane for 20 years, said the blockages could occur at any time of day, while railroad workers used the adjacent railyard to switch tracks or change the composition of a train’s cars.
“It would be tough, because I’ve had times where I’m trying to leave work for a doctor’s appointment,” Herrin said. He said he knew of at least one instance in which a parent escorted a group of school children in pairs on foot across the tracks and onto a waiting school bus.
Others in the neighborhood, including Heath Cole, a worker at Eustis Cable, had similar complaints. Earlier this year, a fire damaged part of the industrial park that houses the cable company. Had a train been parked on the tracks then, it would have slowed the response, Cole said.
“If I’m driving, I get a little agitated,” agreed David Grose, a resident who was leaving the neighborhood on Tuesday morning to meet a friend in the downtown area.
But both Cole and Grose said they’d noticed the situation getting better in recent months.
That’s no coincidence, according to David Carroll, a general manager of New England Central Railroad.
“The Nutt Lane issue was occurring between Thanksgiving and Christmas of last year, and that has been rectified with a change in the operating plan,” Carroll said.
Carroll declined to discuss the specifics of the changes, but asked if that meant the elimination of instances in which trains block Nutt Lane, he said that it had.
“I know of no ongoing issues in that location,” Carroll said.
Pullar said that, during the holiday season identified by Carroll, there was an increase in the instances of trains blocking off Nutt Lane, and that the timing was particularly problematic.
“It was happening at the most inopportune time,” he said. “In the morning, when folks were trying to get to school and work, and in the evening, when they were coming back home.”
Pullar said he reached out to the Vermont Transportation Board, which communicated with the railroad to resolve the issue.
Herrick said he noticed that the gated backup access point was installed about two years ago, which can provide responders with a way to get into the neighborhood during an emergency, even if Nutt Lane is blocked.
Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said police, fire and town ambulance crews have a key to the gate, and that, in the unlikely event when both entries were blocked by trains, there are procedures in place to get to residents who need help — emergency crews can come in on foot, and people in need of medical treatment can be taken to an ambulance by ATV, or airlifted directly to the hospital via helicopter.
After consulting with Hartford Fire Chief Scott Cooney, Kasten said that Cooney could “recall only one instance that crews walked in.”
Emergency officials also have a communication line with the railroad that would allow them to initiate the moving of a problematic train, Kasten said.
Jeff Lathrop, another resident of Latham Works Lane who was walking out of the neighborhood on Tuesday morning, said he didn’t agree with town police actions to enforce the railroad’s no trespassing policy. Neighborhood residents who are walking to the downtown area face a constant temptation to simply walk across the tracks in the railyard, which is closed to trespassers. Otherwise, they have to take a 15-minute detour to backtrack to Nutt Lane.
“The worst impact I’ve seen is the railroad getting local police to arrest innocent bystanders,” he said. “They need to hire their own police.”
Kasten said the police are concerned about trespassing as a public safety concern. Trains have too much momentum to stop for a pedestrian, while people are often distracted by cellphones, sometimes with earbuds, which Kasten said is a particularly toxic mix.
“The tracks are dangerous for pedestrians, with (national rail safety group) Operation Lifesaver reporting 994 casualties, fatalities or injuries due to trespassing during 2016,” Kasten said.
In May 2014, Hartford police reported that more than 20 people had been warned or cited for trespassing over the previous six-month period. That number seems to be going down, with Kasten reporting that 10 warnings have been issued over the past six months.
“One person was cited after failing to comply with a warning issued by a police officer nearly a month earlier,” he said.
Residents of the neighborhood are seeking to solve the pedestrian problem permanently by establishing a River Walk Trail that would allow pedestrians to enter and exit the neighborhood.
Cat Buxton, project coordinator for that effort, has said that the group would seek permission to establish a legal foot crossing over, or possibly under, the tracks at the north end of the neighborhood.
She said on Tuesday that the first phase of the trail, which has been cultivated as an “edible forest,” is being surveyed this week. The third phase of the project, which would include traversing the railroad, is being submitted as a student project for a group of students at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.