State Gives Upton, Grafton Railroad Track Expansion Grant

UPTON, MA — The reborn Grafton and Upton Railroad recently received a $500,000 grant from the state to improve a cargo loading facility in Upton, according to MassDOT.

The grant will go toward expanding train tracks at the Upton transload facility — a place where trucks can offload cargo onto trains and vice versa. The transload facility will ship "wood pellets as well as hazardous and non-hazardous liquid products," according to the town of Upton.

The Grafton and Upton Railroad is a 15-mile line that runs from North Grafton south into Milford.

The state grant was from the MassDOT Industrial Rail Access Program (IRAP) and was part of about $3 million in grants doled out to railroad companies across the state. The railroad will fund a portion of the Upton track expansion.

Grafton and Upton trains began running through Milford in February, helping to transport products from the Garelick Farms operation along Route 140 in Franklin. The railroad has nine crossings in Milford.