Meeting on deadly train crossing Tuesday in Revere

REVERE – Oak Island residents are scheduled to meet with city and state officials Tuesday at 3 p.m., in the City Council Chamber to discuss train crossing safety in their neighborhood.A commuter rail train crossing through Oak Island May 25 struck and killed 5-year-old Stephen Garbarino.A northbound train struck Garbarino when he crossed the commuter rail tracks while the automatic crossing barrier was down.Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials said the barrier and warning lights at the crossing were working and said the engineer sounded the train’s horn as it approached the crossing.But Ward 5 City Councilor John Powers thinks safety improvements can be made at the residential crossing. He wants to hear residents’ suggestions, including any proposals for reducing train speeds.”What, if anything, can be done to make the area safer?” asked Powers.The MBTA runs about 64 trains to and from Boston through Oak Island each weekday and 26 on weekends. The crossing and another at the River Works in Lynn are the only two in the Revere/Lynn area.The MBTA has cooperated with neighborhood requests to limit the use of train horns in Oak Island although T spokesman Joe Pesaturo noted that train engineers sound horns as a safety measure that is widely employed at other crossings to alert people to the fact that a train is approaching.Pesaturo said the MBTA offered to hold a crossing safety instruction course last fall in local schools but did not receive a response from Revere educators. He renewed that offer in the wake of Garbarino’s death.”Educating the public about the need to heed the warnings at grade crossings is the most important element of ongoing efforts to maintain a safe environment,” Pesaturo said.Powers is also organizing a meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. in the St. George condominium building community room with Revere residents and a federal rail safety expert.