Following fatal train crash, Abington selectman wants MBTA at next meeting

ABINGTON M.A. - A fatal train crash this week at the North Avenue railroad crossing pushed a town selectman to request an MBTA representative at the next selectmen meeting.

Selectman Alex Bezanson has requested that a representative from the state transit authority come to the board’s next meeting, “to discuss crossing safety.”

79-year-old Selwyn Mohansingh of Mattapan was killed Tuesday on the Abington tracks around 8:20 p.m., when he drove his pickup truck around the crossing gates onto the tracks, and was hit by a train at the North Avenue railroad crossing.

Bezanson said on Wednesday that he thinks Abington “seems like it’s had more than our share” of railroad crossing crashes.

“I don’t know if there’s an issue (with our crossings), or if people are just being careless,” he said.

Bezanson is hoping the MBTA will clear things up at the next selectmen’s meeting, in August.

He said he wants to know how the number of crashes at Abington crossings compare to surrounding towns, and if there are other, safer types of crossing gates the MBTA might be able to use.

Abington has more train crossings than any other town on either the Middleboro or the Plymouth line, and since 2005 has seen at least two fatal crashes on the tracks.

In 2008, a Kingston man drove around the crossing gates onto the tracks, and suffered minor injuries when his car was hit by a train.

Abington Selectman Thomas Corbett said after that 2008 crash that changes were needed to the rail system, including gates that keep cars from getting on the tracks.