A TRAIN rolls by the crossing gates at Broadway. The town has been plagued by many instances of stuck crossing gates in recent months. (Mark Sardella Photo)

WAKEFIELD — Since the middle of November, drivers and first responders have dealt with 32 instances where at least one of the six commuter rail crossings in town was affected by malfunctioning safety gates. For the most part, the gates were stuck in the down position, shutting off one side of Wakefield from the other.

As recently as Monday, the gates at Prospect Street and North Avenue were down for several hours at the height of the afternoon commuter rush hour. At the same time, the gates were also down at North Avenue at Albion Street and on Broadway. Police cruisers were stationed at the busy intersection as officers kept traffic moving the best they could.

The malfunctioning gates are not just an inconvenience. Response times of both the Fire Department and Cataldo Ambulance crews are significantly impacted to calls where, in some cases, every second counts.

In just about all cases, the MBTA was contacted. In turn, the MBTA notified Keolis, which services the tracks and their immediate surroundings.

Here’s a look at some of the recent railroad crossing complaints:

On Monday, November 14, the gates were stuck down at North Avenue and Prospect Street at 5:17 a.m. They were stuck down again at the same intersection at 12:16 p.m.

On Tuesday, November 15 the gates were stuck down at North Avenue and Prospect Street at 9:17 a.m.

On Thursday, November 17 the gates at North Avenue and Prospect Street were stuck down at 11:05 a.m.

On Wednesday, November 20 the gates at Main and Greenwood streets were stuck half way at around 5 p.m.

On Tuesday, December 13 the gates on Broadway were stuck down at 7:38 a.m.

On Thursday, December 15 the Prospect Street gates were stuck down around 5:45 a.m.

A week later, on Thursday, December 22, the gates at Prospect Street and North Avenue were stuck down at 9:08 a.m.

At 10:02 a.m. on Monday, December 26 the Broadway gates were down.

On Wednesday, December 28 at about 10:25 a.m. the gates at Albion Street and North Avenue were stuck down.

On Thursday, December 29 gates were stuck down at North Avenue and Chestnut Street.

On Friday, December 30, the gates at Prospect Street and North Avenue were stuck down around 9:10 a.m.

On Monday, January 2 the same gates were down for a long period of time beginning around 7:45 a.m.

On Wednesday, January 11 the Prospect-North Ave. intersection could not be crossed because gates were stuck down around 1:30 p.m.

On Thursday, January 12, police received many calls about malfunctioning gates at Prospect and North Ave. beginning around 6:40 a.m.

The gates at Prospect and North Ave. were down again around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, January 17. About three and half hours later, the gates at Albion Street and North Avenue were stuck down. Keolis was working in the area.

AT about 10:10 p.m. on Friday, January 20 one gate on Broadway was up while another was down and lights were flashing.

On Wednesday, January 25 the Broadway gates were down around 5:45 a.m.

On Monday, January 30 the gates at North Avenue and Prospect Street were stuck down at 10:28 a.m. and at 10:45 p.m.

On Wednesday, February 1 the Prospect-North Ave. gates wee down around 11:10 a.m.

On Friday, February 3, the gates on Greenwood Street were down around 9:10 a.m.

On Monday, February 6, the gates at North Avenue and Chestnut Street were stuck down  around 1 p.m. and again at about 4:40 p.m.

On Wednesday, February 8 gates were up but lights were flashing and bells were ringing at the Broadway crossing around 8:20 a.m. The gates at Chestnut Street and North Avenue were stuck down around 2:05 p.m. And just before 10 p.m. the warning bell sounded without a train in sight at North Avenue and Albion Street.

And on Sunday, February 12 the gates at Prospect and North Ave. were down around 8:20 p.m. The gates at Albion and North Avenue were also reported to be stuck down about 20 minutes later.

Alana Olsen Westwater, Keolis manager of Public Relations and Government Affairs, was told of the situation in Wakefield and responded yesterday after gathering some information.

She wrote, “If there is ever any issue at a crossing, the gates are designed to stay in a down position for safety. Since November there have been several factors that caused the crossing gates in Wakefield to assume a safe mode. Keolis and the MBTA Commuter Rail prepare for some crossings to be impacted by winter weather, specifically from issues related to salt and the extreme cold. The unprecedented extreme cold the weekend of February 3rd caused several broken rail incidents which created issues for crossings in Wakefield. Recently there have been unintended impacts to the crossings related to ongoing…construction along the Haverhill line.

“Keolis and MBTA Commuter Rail commit to addressing every issue as quickly as possible. We know that the gates being in the down position for extended periods of time can be inconvenient and we appreciate everyone’s patience. At each crossing there is a public information sign with phone number to call if you see the gates in the down position.”