Temporary Train Horn Relief Set for Vote

February 11, 2026
• The Select Board held a public hearing on a seasonal crossing closure proposed at the Needham Golf Club. They will take a vote on the measure at their Feb. 24 meeting.

Needham residents, particularly those living close to Hersey Station, are looking for some respite from train horns by advocating for a seasonal crossing closure at the Needham Golf Club crossing. Relief, however, may not come until the end of the year.

The town is considering installing two gates, with locks, on both sides of the at-grade crossing along the golf course. The gates would cover a gap in chain link fencing at the crossing, where golfers and golf carts pass through. If implemented, trains to and from Hersey would not regularly sound their horns from Dec. 1 through March 1.

During a public hearing on the project at the Select Board’s Tuesday meeting, residents spoke about how the horns disrupt daily activities and about safety concerns at the crossing as is.

Town Manager Katie King recommended the closure begin this December, but members of the public and some Select Board members voiced frustration over that timeline, hoping to move faster to implement it now until March.

“I’m in favor of closing the golf course crossings as soon as possible. Even if it’s just March 1, if we can get it done soon, at least it’s another two weeks,” Harris Avenue resident Tammy Lamenzo said. “There are much safer and quieter options that could be pursued, and we’re asking the board to consider those alternatives for quality of life for the residents.”

Abutter Chris Supple, a vocal advocate for the measure, agreed that a shorter term closure this month would still benefit residents.

“It would bring a lot of relief to my family and to the neighborhood,” Supple said.

The locked gates would only offer a temporary solution to the train horns. The board has previously discussed creating a culvert at the location that would eliminate the crossing entirely. That project is likely still years out.

Officials also pulled plans for a Quiet Zone warrant article at last fall’s Town Meeting because they said they did not receive adequate information from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to move forward.

Because the crossing is on private land, it is not eligible to become a federally-regulated Quiet Zone, meaning the trains must still sound their horns under the current conditions. The golf club leases part of its land from the town. The crossing is one of six at-grade crossings across town.

If the town were to incur the cost of the gates themselves, it would likely take about four weeks before installation, Public Works Director Carys Lustig said at the board’s Jan. 13 meeting. It’s unclear how long the project would take if the MBTA or the golf course took it on, Lustig added.

Alexandra Clark, president of the Needham Golf Club, said the organization is open to both short and long-term proposals.

“We want to be a good neighbor,” Clark said at the Feb. 10 meeting. “We want to partner with the town and with the MBTA and work with everybody to establish a seasonal crossing, and then potentially, in the future, a culvert or a more permanent crossing situation to silence the horns.”

In conversations with the MBTA, King said the T is “not comfortable” with implementing this closure on a more permanent basis. A seasonal closure, however, is fine with the T “because it wouldn’t be something that would be reliant every single day on somebody to make sure that it’s locked,” King said.

After closing a public hearing, the Select Board customarily waits until its next meeting to take a vote on any given project. However, board member Kevin Keane called the timeline “frustrating,” and member Josh Levy suggested taking a vote on the project then.

Chair Heidi Frail opposed the idea because the board did not issue advance notice they would be doing so. On Tuesday, she added that the board has received emails from residents opposed to the plan and that they should keep that line of communication open for feedback until their next meeting.

“I understand where you’re coming from, and I definitely hear the sentiment in the room,” Frail said to attendees. “I also hear the train noises at night, as do we all. We all live in Needham and everyone hears those, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to shorten the process with no notice.”

From the audience, Supple expressed his dissatisfaction.

“There’s been two Select Board meetings, two Quiet Zone [Working Group] meetings. Everybody’s had an opportunity,” he said. “It’s been kicking around forever.”

The board closed the public hearing and decided to take the vote Feb. 24.

The earliest Commuter Rail passes inbound through Hersey at 5:16 a.m. on weekdays, and the latest gets in from Boston weekdays at 12:28 a.m., according to the schedule posted on the MBTA’s website.

Toby Seggerman, who lives two blocks from Hersey Station, said he hears 148 horn blasts every weekday. When the early morning and late evening trains roll in, he said he hears those horns as well. But the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb. 1 was an exception, as service was suspended along the Needham Line.

“Two weekends ago, the trains didn’t run, and it was wonderful,” Seggerman said. “Just for that weekend, it was so relaxing.”