Inman Avenue railroad crossing gates malfunction
A railroad crossing gate remains stuck in the closed position on Inman Avenue on Saturday, March 30, 2024. ZFJ/Alvin Wu
EDISON, N.J., March 31 (ZFJ) — The railroad crossing gates on Inman Avenue, nearby CVS Pharmacy and the Westgate neighborhood, malfunctioned on Saturday, March 30.
Two ZFJ reporters were buying doughnuts (Boston Kreme remains our forever beloved) when they noticed the crossing’s lights flashing and alarm ringing despite no train being in sight. Upon closer inspection, they saw one gate on the Westgate side stuck in the closed position.
A police officer on the scene told The ZFJ that they called the rail company at about 5:00 p.m. A Conrail technician arrived at 6:25 p.m. and fixed the malfunction within 10 minutes.
A view of the entire railroad crossing at Inman Avenue when it was malfunctioning on Saturday, March 30, 2024. ZFJ/Siddharth Perikala
According to the technician, the cause of the malfunction was that moisture had entered the control box and was interfering with a relay, an electrical component. Drying it solved the problem.
The technician observed that the same issue had occurred at the same railroad crossing about six months ago, so they’d made some minor repairs to allow water to exit more easily.
A ZFJ reporter noticed the gates malfunction while riding home on the school bus on Thursday, March 28. A train passed, so the gates went down and up. About four or five cars crossed the tracks before a single gate, the one stuck on Saturday, went back down right in front of the bus for about 30 seconds before raising again.
Freight trains using the crossing were not impacted by the malfunction. Motorists approaching CVS Pharmacy from the Westgate side had to turn around until the gates were fixed.