UPDATE: Bethel Police Scene at Railroad Crossing

Photography and Report by Paula Antolini

Here is an update on the previous story posted on Bethel Patch on November 13 about police vehicles at the railroad crossing on Greenwood Avenue on the evening of November 12.

Just to review, I last left off with Bethel Police Dispatcher 424 Dan Spinelli on November 13, 2013, who said a press release about the incident was in progress and would be ready in a day or two.

On November 15, 2013 I contacted the Bethel police again and the dispatcher (who said he preferred not to give his name) said there was no press release.  He switched me over to the Records Department, where I spoke to Linda Kavallines, who initially said, "I don't think we have any reports on that." She eventually said she had a "Call for Service" report that she could give me, but that there was no actual report.  Kavallines said, "The only thing that happened down there were that the gates were not working, so we had several officers out there until MTA took over. I have the call for service I could print out for you, but there was no actual report.  That was the only thing that happened."

I obtained a "Call for Service" report from the Bethel Police Department pertaining to "Incident #201300013248" in which a Bethel citizen (I will withhold name for privacy) reported that "the train gates are not working again." The police blotter states, "Directed traffic on South Street and Greenwood Avenue, MTA Police arrived and took over traffic security around RR tracks, MTA repair crew on scene."  The report was by Bethel Police Officer Zor, but calls for further information were not returned by Zor.

I contacted the MTA (Metro North Railroad division) on November 19, 2013, and spoke to Media Relations Department (MTA Press Office) representative Aaron Donovan, and I asked if he could give me information about the incident and he said, "Yes I sure can, although I may end up referring you to the CT Department of Transportation because they maintain those gates, but I will find out how to best proceed on this."  He said he would research this and get back to me.

Donovan did call back the same day and said, "On November 12th we had a report in the evening around 8:37, the train dispatchers placed a notification to the train crews that the grade crossing, the railroad crossing, at Greenwood Avenue, the gates were malfunctioning. The malfunction was that the gates were continuously in the down position. It would have been blocking traffic even if no train was approaching. The gates would have been down and the lights flashing and the whole thing would have been seeming as if a train was approaching. We notified our signal maintainers and they immediately came to the assistance of that grade crossing and that evening rectified the problem.  So the crossing is now, and has been since that date, functioning as intended.  And it's safely functioning as intended."

When asked how often the gate malfunction occurred, Donovan said that needed further research.

Donovan then added, "By the way, Metro North is responsible for maintaining the actual lights and crossing arms, the CT DOT is responsible for the approaching roadways to that area, and whatnot, so it is a team effort."

As of today, there is still no word back from Donovan about past problems with the train gates and I left another message for him, waiting for a call back. 

It's still a mystery why there needed to be so much secrecy about this gate repair that night, especially since they seemed to have it all under control, unless this is a recurring problem, which would mean a public safety issue.

I will update as more information comes in.