FREEPORT – With financial assistance from Hilton Garden Inn, the town of Freeport will install a wrought-iron fence as a barrier between Memorial Park and the Amtrak Downeaster rail line that runs along the edge of the park.

Members of the Freeport Railroad Crossing Safety Committee say that the fence will serve as a safety measure to keep pedestrians off the track. There are no whistles to warn people of an oncoming train, in accordance with the quiet zone approved last summer.

The Hilton Garden Inn, which abuts the park, pays to use the park for functions during warm-weather months. The Railroad Crossing Safety Committee has identified the stretch of rail as a major safety concern. Currently, a snow fence lies along the lower portion of the park.

Committee member Al Presgraves, the town engineer, explained that a quiet zone cannot be established without safety measures in place.

“We don’t want an accident to happen,” Presgraves said. “The concern is that this is a public place where people go, and it’s not unreasonable to think that kids might be playing there. They could chase a ball or something, and wander onto the track.”

Presgraves said that the decorative fence, in keeping with the style of the tourist town, is part of the capital plan, and should be erected this summer. Hilton Garden Inn has expressed interest in helping with the cost, estimated at $10,350, he said.

Town Councilor Scott Gleeson, chairman of the committee, announced Memorial Park as a primary safety concern during the March 4 Town Council meeting. Gleeson said the committee has decided an ornamental fence is preferable to a chain-link fence in Freeport.

“In order to keep with the nature of the park, the ornamental, wrought-iron fence is best,” Gleeson said. “It is a more expensive option, but it’s more in keeping with the Memorial Park.”

Councilor Sarah Tracy asked Gleeson what amount of money Hilton Garden Inn would be contributing.

“I don’t want to put them on the hook just yet,” Gleeson said.

Last July, when the Town Council voted to establish the quiet zones, it did so without immediately requiring any additional safety measures to be installed at crossings in town. The eight crossings are at West, Bow, East and School streets, and Webster, Hunter, Upper Mast Landing and Fernald roads. Gleeson said at last week’s meeting that each committee member had visited the eight rail crossings in town. Safety and signage are common concerns, he said. Amtrak has installed signs near each crossing that trespassing onto the track is illegal, but some of those signs are not fully visible, he said.

Lighting, particularly along West Street, is another issue, he said. There are also pavement problems, with uneven pavement and poor grading at several crossings that could prove hazardous to pedestrians, Gleeson said.

Councilor Rich DeGrandpre said that there are holes at some crossings where catch basins are low.

The committee will follow up on these concerns, Gleeson said.

The Freeport Fire Department, meanwhile, has provided safety instruction to children regarding the crossings, he said.

Presgraves, speaking the day after the council meeting, said that safety can be a difficult thing to measure. More simply put, he said, crossings without horns are not as safe.

“If you have a quiet zone without making safety improvements, an accident or change in standards would change that,” he said. “Pedestrians are the concern in general, but the federal calculator is based on vehicle collisions at crossings.”

Pedestrians do not approach other crossings in town as they do the Memorial Park crossing, but the committee is looking at the stretch of rail from Bow Street to West Street, where the platform is located, as another possibility for a fence, he said.

Memorial Park, located between Hilton Garden Inn and a stretch of track used by the Amtrak Downeaster, is the site of much activity in spring, summer and fall. A wrought-iron fence will be installed as a barrier between the park and the track.