MassDOT awards $500K expansion grant to Hopedale railroad company amidst lawsuit

Courtesy | Grafton & Upton Railroad A train on the Grafton & Upton Railroad.

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By Katherine Hamilton

Grafton & Upton Railroad Co., a rail company in Hopedale which has met controversy with a local developer, received a $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s Industrial Rail Access Program, according to a MassDOT announcement on Friday.

The rail company’s grant will go toward covering 60% of the cost of a transload facility track expansion, according to the release.

The grant was part of a larger $3 million allocation of awards distributed to railroad projects across the commonwealth.

Grafton & Upton has been engaged in a legal battle with a Worcester-based developer who owns almost 80 acres of Hopedale's downtown, including the old Draper Mill property. Developer Philip Shwachman is suing the railroad company for allegedly blocking access between his properties.

In separate a citizen's action, 11 Hopedale residents obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the railroad from clearing forestland in an area of the town where more than 400 residents voted unanimously to acquire and preserve, according to lawyer David Lurie.

The MassDOT-funded project will not take place in Hopedale, according to Michael Milanoski, spokesman for Grafton & Upton.