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Article published November 14, 2005

Train 'quiet zones' don't come cheap

Safety measures cost thousands per crossing

 

 

In Canada, signs are considered sufficient to warn motorists that trains won't be blowing their horns in a 'quiet zone.'

 

 

Zoom 

 

 

By DAVID PATCH

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

 

While federal procedures for silencing train horns in densely populated areas took effect in June, local officials are learning that setting up "quiet zones" in their communities is neither fast nor cheap.

 

 

To compensate for the lack of an audible warning to motorists, regulations that the Federal Railroad Administration placed in effect in June require municipalities or highway authorities to install "supplemental safety measures," in addition to typical automated gates and flashing lights, at many crossings.

 

Click on link for more information.

Article published Monday, November 28, 2005

 

Fostoria to examine train horn alternative

Device focuses blare on traffic, not homes

 

 

Can a focused horn on a pole be a safe, yet less disruptive alternative to trains blowing their horns when they approach highway crossings?

 

 

A demonstration of "wayside horn" technology is planned for tomorrow afternoon in Fostoria, where train horns blowing day and night create a disruption local officials would like to reduce without compromising safety.

 

John Davoli, Fostoria's mayor, said that after a sales representative from a Texas company that makes the devices offered to visit his city, he decided to invite officials from other communities in the area to have a listen too.

 

Click on link for more information.

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051128/NEWS17/511280327/-1/NEWS

Toledo Blade

Article published Tuesday, December 13, 2005

 

No solution in sight for loud train horns in Perrysburg

 

 

For now, the best weapon Perrysburg residents have against loud train horns is calling the railroad to complain, a CSX Transportation official said yesterday.

 

Ken Gilsdorf, a regional safety and public affairs coordinator with CSX, addressed City Council's service-safety committee and about a dozen residents last night. The city has been discussing establishing quiet zones for the 13 to 17 trains that pass through Perrysburg each day.

 

Click on link for more information.

 

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/NEWS18/512130405/-1/NEWS

 

    A word of advice: be careful when talking to railroaders about whistles. Locomotive engineers can get charged with murder if they happen to run over someone and there was no whistle. They take this very seriously.

 

    On another note, the ideal solution is to separate the traffic at crossings with an overpass to eliminate the need for whistles and improve safety. Of course, this is a capital cost. In urban areas, the cost is justified. In rural areas with less traffic, long sight lines, and fewer residents, the crossings can be protected by whistles without disturbing too many people. Once again, the main problems are in the suburban / sprawl areas.

Unfortunately, overpasses are very difficult to do in urban areas as well because they take so much land to do and have such a negative impact upon the surrounding neighborhood- think about the visual impact and the impact upon walkability.  I think that better gates that cars couldn't go around should be the main answer.  I think that the high decibal requirement is mainly for cars, because of their windows, radios and ambient noise.  Pedestrians on the tracks can probably hear the train without the horn, and certainly with a lower decibal horn.

 

    Yes, overpasses are expensive, but my point was that in urban areas there wouldn't be the need for very many of them. Look at a map of any modern American city and you will see that the walkable, urban core is probably less than 5% of the whole metro area by land area. Most of the crossings in urban areas have already been separated anyway.

 

    Also, overpasses have a nicer appearance when the street is on top and the railroad is on the bottom. When the railroad is on top it functions as a barrier.

A highway can also be a a barrier.  Look what the Interstate Highway system did to a lot of urban neighborhoods.  That's not meant as a slam either way, it's just that major transportation projects have a tendency to split land areas.

 

As for quiet zones, there are alternatives such as four-quad gates (where an entire crossing is blocked off by two gates on either side of the tracks), vehicle median barriers (which prevent vehicles from shifting lanes and going around lights and gates.  But this technology isn't cheap.  A normal set of lights and gates averages around $200-thousand dollars... so double the price for quad gates.  That's still less expensive than a highway overpass, but the irony is that Ohio has a a $200-million dollars grade separation prorgam that funds overpasses or underpasses to eliminate grade crossings... but the funding available to local communities for improving lights and gates is much less... $15-million.  It takes a combined local-state match of 20% to get an 80% match in federal fund for a crossing project.

 

I think you're going to see a huge push for quiet zones.... Fostoria and Springfield are two cities working very agressively to create quiet zones, having already gotten approval to close multiple crossings, build several new grade separations and upgrade the remaining corssings.

 

But I think one aspect of this issue is being ignored: the fact that development is allowed to build so close to rail lines, most of which were their long before the houses.  I think cities and counties need to be rethinking their development policies to create buffer zones... green belts if you will... between residential areas and railroads.  Here in Columbus, I have seen housing developments built virtually on the doorstep of the very busy Buckeye Railroad Yard on the West Side.  The noise is almost constant with engines moving cars back and forth and freight cars banging into each other as they are coupled.  What were they thinking when they allowed a development like this?

 

 

    Or, put another way, what were the residents thinking when they bought a house next to a railroad?    :?

Still, there is a benefit to the city as a whole to try and make the railroads less of a nuisance.  If the railroads become less of a nuisance to surrounding properties, then the property values will go up, increasing tax revenue.  Also, the residents will be more likely to invest in their property, also increasing tax revenue.

 

It's an opportunity, see?

MIDDLETOWN: Council could consider keeping railroads quiet

City may prohibit trains’ from using horns at crossings

 

In addition to increases to bus fares and weekend rounds of golf at the city’s only public course, council is expected to consider an ordinance tonight that may make the community a quieter place to live.

 

At its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building, City Council is expected to discuss making a majority of the city a railroad quiet zone.

 

Local officials have been working toward establishing the quiet zone — which prohibits designated lines from sounding horns, bells or other warning devices ahead of railroad crossings — for years, according to city documents.

 

Click on link for more information.

 

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/18/mj041806middcouncilprv.html

Springfield Residents won't hear that train a blowin'

Upgrades to crossings will silence whistles and create a quiet zone.

By Samantha Sommer

Staff Writer

Monday, December 11, 2006

 

Downtown Springfield should be quieter next year.

 

Work on railroad crossings from Burnett Road to West Main Street is scheduled to start in June and probably last a year, creating a quiet zone downtown.

 

The quiet zone will include several upgrades to crossings, such as four-quadrant gates and wayside horns, so trains don't have to blow their loud whistles.

 

The wayside horns are fixed on poles at the crossings so they direct the sound only at traffic, not at surrounding homes and businesses.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2006/12/10/sns121106quietzone.html 

 

 

maybe i don't see a real direct correlation, but quiet trains equals better business investment?

I can see how it would make an area more attractive to residential buyers, but I don't think locomotive horns are that much disincentive to retail or manufacturing unless the trains are so frequent that the noise is almost constant.

 

Even then, I'd think blocked crossings would be more problem than noise, and this doesn't approach that problem.

This is a rail line, like many mainline corridors in Ohio, where rail traffic is growing.  So the frequency and noise of trains has been increasing.  Both the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and ORDC have had an increase both in noise complaints and inquiries on how to create these "quiet zones". 

 

It has rapidly become a quality of life issue, especially as communities have gobbled up vacant land for new development.  (Yeah, it begs the question: "Why would you knowingly move near active railroad tracks?")  But the fact is that it's happening and it is also becoming a concern for re-developing downtowns like Springfield's, whose plans include a major hospital expansion.  The projects underway there include not only "quieted" crossings, but also the elimination of some redundant grade crossings and a couple of grade sparation proejcts (overpasses) to eliminate both noise and the problem of trains blocking busy highways and local streets.  A quieter downtown is an easier "sell" as a city goes about attracting developers, so it does have an economic impact over the long haul.

I sent this article to an ex-Springfielder & her comment was, "But the train whistles are about the only sign of life in the city".

^So, she hung her head and cried, right?

I hear that train a'comin'..... comin' round the bend....I ain't seen he sun shine, since I don't know when.......

Ever swap the lyrics/tune of Folsom Prison Blues with Pinball Wizard ?

I heard a Cinti band, The Warsaw Falcons, do it once.

The Warsaw Falcons from Cinti & not Clevo ?

It's too early for this.....

Fostoria 'quiet zones' costly

Findlay Courier

By JIM MAURER

Staff Writer

 

FOSTORIA - It would cost an estimated $450,000-$850,000 for Fostoria to meet federal regulations and establish three "quiet zones" to cover its 22 railroad crossings.

 

...

 

With 170-190 trains moving through the city daily on three separate sets of tracks, city officials have been discussing establishing a "quiet zone" which would allow train engineers to not sound their horns at every crossing.

 

The volume of trains results in more than 5,200 train whistle blasts daily, Mayor John Davoli said.

 

Click on link for more information.

 

[email protected]

http://www.thecourier.com/Templates/News/CurrentNews.asp#story3

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Article published April 26, 2007

 

Fostoria looks for funds to quiet whistles

170 trains send out 5,000 blasts a day when passing through city

 

By JENNIFER FEEHAN

BLADE STAFF WRITER

 

 

Getting the 170 or so trains that pass through Fostoria every day to stop blowing their whistles would be a welcome relief to those living nearby, but it would mean a big bill for the city.

 

Mayor John Davoli said yesterday that estimates range from $450,000 to $850,000 to upgrade the city's 22 rail crossings in such a way that the three railroad lines that run through the city could be designated as quiet zones. In some cases, streets would have to be widened, curbs added, and median dividers installed that would prevent motorists from slipping around lowered crossing gates.

 

Click on link for more information.

Friday, May 4, 2007

No-drive-around railroad gates open

Barriers of 'Four-Quad' don't allow sneaking by, officials say

BY STEVE KEMME | [email protected]

 

LOVELAND - Ohio's first four-light and four-gate railroad crossing, designed to improve safety and to make the crossing quieter, will be activated today in Loveland's historic downtown district.

 

The new crossing system at the railroad tracks on Second Street, just north of West Loveland Avenue, will prevent motorists from trying to beat an approaching train by driving around the gates.

 

Click on link for article.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070504/NEWS01/705040435/1056/COL02

I'd love to see some high-resolution photos of the four-quad gate crossing -- photos with gates up and down.

Here's a sequence of photos of the Loveland (OH) "4-Quad" light and gate system.  It actually controls not only all of three crossings in Loveland, but the system is "synched"with the traffic lights at a nearby intersection that often had traffic backing up into the grade crossing during rush hours.  I'm told this "4-quad" system is not only the first in Ohio, but the only one of it's kind East of the Mississippi.  The only other such system in the United States is now installed and being tested on the L-A Metro LRT line in Los Angeles.

 

The other interesting feature of this system is that even if a car becomes trapped between the gates, sensors in the roadway can detect that and it will allow the gate immediate in front of the trapped car to open and allow the car to escape.

Not bad. Got any from the motorist's viewpoint?

Residents seek to mute train horns

By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

 

CHICAGO — Scores of communities are exploring ways to silence the train horns that disrupt daily life and residents' sleep.

A federal regulation that requires all trains to sound their horns at every street and highway crossing also gives communities, for the first time, the option of creating "quiet zones." By enhancing security at crossings, usually with additional medians or gates, communities can end noisy warnings from approaching trains.

 

Midland, Texas, spent $175,000 to upgrade security at 11 crossings, and the 20 trains that roll through town daily stopped sounding their horns in May. "The trains aren't keeping us up at night anymore," transportation manager Gary Saunders says. He's now giving advice to officials from Odessa and Lubbock, which are considering quiet zones.

 

 

Find this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-19-quiet-zones_N.htm 

 

 

Cities clamp down on train noise

By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

 

Proceedings in District Court Judge Peter Ruddick's courtroom in Olathe, Kan., come to a standstill every time a train rolls through town.

 

The courthouse is a block from the railroad tracks, and every train must blow its horn at each crossing, so Ruddick knows when he hears the first horn that several more bellows will follow.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-19-horns_N.htm 

 

 

Ah, yes, it's election season (even though Kucinich's seat isn't up for re-election until 2008)....

______________

 

Jason Werner

For congress

Decisive Leadership for the 10th Congressional District of Ohio

 

September 12, 2007

 

For Immediate Release

 

OLMSTED TOWNSHIP – Thirty people attended last night’s meeting at the Olmsted Falls City Hall to voice their complaints to Mayor Robert G. Blomquist and City Council regarding the absence of “quiet zones”.

 

Residents were given a chance to speak and many complained of sleep deprivation, hearing loss, and low home values. A frustrated resident who has an at-home business with her husband told the mayor and council members that she is embarrassed to deal with clients on the phone due to the noise and urges friends not to move into the city.

 

Another resident said, “We’re stuck here in a quagmire while these trains get louder and louder and more frequent.”

 

“Quiet zones” first became an issue in 1999 when the amount of trains coming through the area doubled to 50-60 a day when trains were re-routed. Residents are frustrated because they have been promised “quiet zones” for years still see no sign of them.

 

Mayor Blomquist told attendees that the issue is “who pays”. If the train horns are stopped, costly supplemental safety measures must be put in place such as dividers or larger gates. If dividers or gates are used, the law requires power-out-indicating lights and constant warning time devices be installed to reduce safety issues caused by the lack of train horns in a “quiet zone”. These safety devices are quite an expense, and in addition, the City will be charged annual maintenance fees by the railroads.

 

City officials have been working with two railroads, CSX and Norfolk Southern, to meet the “quiet zone” safety guidelines. The cooperation of the railroads is imperative for the successful implementation of “quiet zones” and so far the mayor said they have been difficult to work with due to bureaucracy and conflicting information.

 

Alternatives to “quiet zones” were discussed, but due to cost and impracticality, the ideas were dismissed. “Eliminating the source of noise is the best solution and at the end of the day the city has the money for it,” the Mayor told residents.

 

Mayor Blomquist feels that Olmsted Falls has the “wherewithal and follow-through” to fix this problem. He said, “We haven’t failed yet; we haven’t succeeded yet. Are we getting closer to success? Yes we are.”

 

In an effort to speed up the process, the mayor and council members urged residents to continue to contact government and railroad officials to complain about this issue and encourage the railroad companies to cooperate.

 

Jason Werner believes the city officials are going beyond the call of duty to assist local residents; however he is disappointed in the slow progress of promises. Hearing the arguments of low house values, he states vehemently, “Don’t even try to use the excuse of house values being lower as a result of the train horns.

 

“Fact is, the square footage and age of a house is what is dictating the sales price of houses in not only the train-horn areas, but all of Northeast Ohio with few exceptions – lakeside, a house with a pool, unique things like that. I’ll point you to the Auditor’s Web site for that with strong sales in the area.”

 

He is glad that city officials are working with residents to take the problem where it should be: The railroad companies. He believes this issue is not a federal government issue, but rather an opportunity for companies to work with local residents. And he likes to remind people, “When I’m at your door in Olmsted Township or Olmsted Falls, don’t tell me that Congressman Kucinich helped you with train noise and if you live in Lakewood, don’t try to tell me that Congressman Kucinich helped all the people with train noise.

 

“Fact is, you in the Township or the Falls still have horns blowing and you in Lakewood can be thanked for encouraging a puppet [Hon. Kucinich] to cause a problem for someone else.”

 

A synopsis of the meeting and a list of phone numbers and email addresses of government officials who can be contacted regarding “quiet zones” will be available on the City’s Web site by Friday according to city officials.

 

###

 

03/21/2008

Grant helps to 'quiet' the train noises in Vermilion 

By RICHARD PAYERCHIN , Sandusky Bureau Chief 

 

VERMILION -- The whistles of trains through Vermilion have become a deafening wail due to increase train traffic, but soon Vermilion residents will get some respite.

 

A new plan will create a ''quiet zone'' in town when new, upgraded gates are installed at four railroad crossings, made possible by a $1 million federal grant.

 

Click on link for article.

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19411752&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46371&rfi=6

... "My house rattles and things shake and we don't open our windows," she said. "Hopefully, within the next year, we'll be a quiet zone and be able to enjoy the outdoors." ...

 

The rattling and shaking won't stop when the quiet zone takes effect; That's caused by the weight of the passing trains and even the tiniest irregularities and imperfections in the wheel and rail surfaces.

 

The former PRR mainline now owned by CSX and operated by RailAmerica division Chicago Fort Wayne & Eastern passes about a quarter mile from my house. Probably because of the local geology, sometimes the dishes and glasses in my kitchen cupboard jiggle when freight trains pass.

 

Northeast Ohio cities with train traffic take action to make towns quieter

5 cities act to silence train horns

Friday, April 04, 2008

Laura Johnston

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

Trains wail 50, 100, 150 times a day through Lorain County and Cleveland's western suburbs.

 

House-quaking and head-vibrating, they blare past schools and stores, stop business in downtowns and wake residents in neighborhoods. Train horns are aimed at saving lives, but they disrupt life.

 

And now at least five Northeast Ohio cities -- Berea, Brook Park, Olmsted Falls, Rocky River and Vermilion -- are working to quiet the horns.

 

Click on link for article.

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/lorain/1207297861260790.xml&coll=2

04/22/2008

Quiet zones have citizens talking in Vermilion  

By RICHARD PAYERCHIN , Sandusky Bureau Chief 

 

VERMILION -- Vermilion City Council members say they want more information before committing to closing a railroad crossing on one of the city's streets.

 

City Council spent more than two hours last night in a public hearing to consider closing the Perry Street crossing and installing new quad gates as part of a plan to cut down on train whistles blowing at all hours. Some residents supported the plan, some opposed closing the intersection and council wondered if the city can pay for the project at all.

 

Click on link for article.

http://www.morningjournal.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=1699&dept_id=46371&newsid=19505059

This is pretty huge....

 

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9133880?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

 

FrontRunner 'quiet zone' debuts along commuter train's 38-mile run

By Derek P. Jensen

The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 05/02/2008 02:24:30 PM MDT

 

    Hear that?

    Neither do the residents along Salt Lake City's main railroad corridor, who rejoiced Friday that the omnipresent train howls have been virtually hushed.

...

    The quiet zone applies to all trains on the corridor and is the longest such stretch in the nation, according to Utah Transit Authority spokeswoman Carrie Bohnsack-Ware.

...

    Steve Meyer, UTA manager of FrontRunner design and construction, said the improvements were made since some 60 commuter trains a day will roar along the corridor.

 

Click on link for article.

Residents seek rail 'quiet zone'

By Rick Armon

Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Monday, May 12, 2008

 

Greg McNeil and Lori Barber can handle the rumble of the freight trains as they pass behind their Hudson home.

 

It's the horn that gets them.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.ohio.com/news/18852794.html?page=all&c=y 

 

Springfield train horns to be silenced

By Dianne E. Selden

Staff Writer

Thursday, August 07, 2008

 

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Five railroad crossings soon will be closed permanently as part of a city-wide effort to improve railroad safety and to help quiet train noise near the crossings.

 

The railroad crossings at Zischler, Isabella, Race and Plum streets and Bell Avenue will be closed to traffic, said Leo Shanayda, Springfield city engineer.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/08/06/sns080708trainhorn.html 

 

Rail quiet zone to cost $168,000

Train horns may be silenced at Macedonia crossing; safety upgrade required

 

By Rick Armon

Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Monday, Nov 03, 2008

 

MACEDONIA: A proposal to silence the train whistles and improve safety at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing at Twinsburg Road will cost about $168,000, advocates said.

 

Now they just have to find the money for the project.

 

Click on link for article.

 

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/33737189.html

 

I also posted that in the Cleveland - Pittsburgh thread. But it probably belongs here.

This sort-of belongs here.........

 

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature1-11-4

 

November 3, 2008

Crossing deaths drop 25% in eight months

 

Fatalities at highway-rail grade crossings continue to decline at a rate rarely experienced since record-keeping began. New data posted on the Federal Railroad Administration's website Monday show that railroads reported 193 crossing deaths in this year's first eight months, down 25.2% from the 258 fatalities reported in the same period last year. Trespassing deaths were down 4.6% to 330, the first decline in several months. There were 17 employee fatalities, compared with 10 last year.

 

The FRA reported also showed that total accidents and incidents in the January-August 2008 period dropped 20.0% to 8,225; train accidents were down 17.9% to 1,652; collisions dropped 6.3% to 135; derailments were down 18.5% to 1,202; and yard accidents declined 14.0% to 898.

 

Track causes were blamed for 559 accidents, down 21.6%; human factors for 572, down 23.9%; equipment causes for 230, down 7.3%; and signal causes for 33, up 3.1%.

The first feedback comment at Cleveland.com was actually worthwhile. And the photo of McNeil at the link below showed him doing an illegal act -- trespassing on private property. Of course the photographer had to break the law too in order to take that picture.

____________

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/greg_mcneil_of_hudson_got_1683.html

 

Greg McNeil of Hudson got $168,323 in stimulus money to silence train horns at crossing near his home

Posted by Karen Farkas/Plain Dealer Reporter April 04, 2009 06:00AM

 

HUDSON -- Greg McNeil competed with city, county and state officials for Ohio's federal stimulus money and wound up winning $168,323 to silence train horns at a crossing near his home.

 

McNeil's project, on behalf of his homeowners association, was one of only 149 chosen last week by the Ohio Department of Transportation from 2,222 eligible to receive $774 million in infrastructure money. His is the only submission from a private citizen to receive ODOT's nod.

 

...............

Or, put another way, what were the residents thinking when they bought a house next to a railroad?    :?

 

My attitude on both of these situations is the same.  Very simple.  Your house was there before the railroad or freeway, you may have an argument.  You built/bought the house after the railroad or freeway was already in place, too bad, shut up, you're either dumb or you were scheming.  The taxpayers should not be raising these people's property value through sound barriers if they built/bought the house artificially cheap due to the sound at the time.  They had the choice not to build/buy there.

I am familiar with this project, enough to know that Mr. McNeil (although the catalyst in getting the Stimulus application in before the deadline) is taking a bit more credit than he deserves.  This had already been a project effort of the communities of Hudson, Macedonia and Northfield Center and was already approved on its safety merits by the ORDC.

 

Mr. McNeil didn't compete with anyone for the $$$.  He just filled out the application on behalf of the above-mentioned communities.  Fot that, he deserves thanks.

 

For getting his photo taken while standing in the middle of a 77-trains-per-day rail corridor, he deserves recognition for not being very smart, especially given that the story connected to the photo is also about grade crossing safety.

 

Or, put another way, what were the residents thinking when they bought a house next to a railroad?    :?

 

My attitude on both of these situations is the same.  Very simple.  Your house was there before the railroad or freeway, you may have an argument.  You built/bought the house after the railroad or freeway was already in place, too bad, shut up, you're either dumb or you were scheming.  The taxpayers should not be raising these people's property value through sound barriers if they built/bought the house artificially cheap due to the sound at the time.  They had the choice not to build/buy there.

 

In general I agree with you (certainly in regard to the freeways), but if the railroad has increased the volume on their horns (which many have) or significantly increased the amount of traffic (which I'm pretty sure has happened with the line going through Hudson, if its the one I'm thinking of), then I think homeowners have a right to ask either the railroad or their community to do something about it.

 

Personally, I think its ridiculous that gates, flashing lights, and bells with the addition of some extra signs aren't sufficient to warrant a quiet zone. I think the federal rules are overburdening communities on this, we shouldn't require our railroad crossings to be idiot proof. How stupid do you have to be to go around the gates? If you are going to go around them, why wouldn't you at least look first? And does the train's horn really prevent people from going around the gates more than if the train didn't sound its horn? And why should the community around the tracks have to suffer just because the Federal Government is scared some idiot will ignore the gates, lights and bells? I feel this is just as stupid as the beeping RTA busses in Cleveland, why does the community as a whole have to suffer because there's a handful of idiots that we have to be overly careful of?

 

Sure some sprawl ends up around railroad tracks, but a lot of the communities that are near tracks have been there since the railroad was a major source of passenger transportation. So don't dismiss this as some new issue caused by sprawl; its an issue that's getting worse because railroads are turning up the volume on their horns to avoid getting sued, and retarded federal rules are financially preventing communities from allowing drivers to use common sense. It sure looks to me like our government saying "F You" to poor communities that can't afford to spend money on this.

 

End rant

The object of extra gates and lights is to eliminate the possibility of a vehicle going around a gate to cross the tracks.  As idiotic as crossing in front of an on-coming train may seem, over half the deaths and injuries that occur in Ohio and nationally each year at grade crossings are the direct result of people driving around activated lights and gates. 

 

That's one reason why the FRA made four-quad gates among the requirements for a quiet zone.

I say forget all the extra grade crossing protection and upgrade the gene pool in the process.

 

Canada silences train horns by passing local ordinances, without new crossing protection. And if Bob & Doug MacKenzie are drunk or stupid enough to ignore the signs that do exist, then they deserve to get smushed by Thomas the Big Ass Tank Engine.

Unfortunately, Bob & Doug MacKenzie's type of idiocy can also cause trains to derail, not to mention the crew's trauma of having to watch people go "splat" in front of their faces.

...over half the deaths and injuries that occur in Ohio and nationally each year at grade crossings are the direct result of people driving around activated lights and gates...

 

If that's the case, than what good is the horn doing? That statistic is only really helpful if you're making the argument that all at grade crossings should be updated, which would be ridiculous. People are going to ignore the warnings regardless of what we do, so why punish people that live near the tracks, and discourage people from living near the tracks? Aren't RR tracks through the middle of a neighborhood bad enough for the area and property values? Wouldn't areas near railroads make nice locations for TOD?

 

Unfortunately, Bob & Doug MacKenzie's type of idiocy can also cause trains to derail, not to mention the crew's trauma of having to watch people go "splat" in front of their faces.

What effect does the horn have on Bob & Doug MacKenzie's type of idiocy? Apparently little to none, so what's the point?

I was responding to KJP's implied statement that a lack of grad crossings would improve the gene pool. My point is that there would be a lot of collateral damage in the process.

 

If a train isn't permitted to use its horn, then the town should be willing to pay for warning lights and gates at a grade crossing... I think this is already standard practice in most places. Aside from complete grade separation (which is something that ultimately should be a component of any high-speed rail system, or any railroad with very frequent commuter trains), there isn't much else you can do to prevent drunk, stupid, or inattentive drivers from ending up in the path of an oncoming train.

And you are right on about how grade crossing crashes affect the crews.  Some of them have PTSD that lasts for the rest of their careers. 

 

I once interviewed an locomotive engineer that experienced several fatal crashes in a short span of years, the worst being one in which four college students (one would assume a little higher in the gene pool) drove around a crossing at night.  The engineer says the light from his locomotive lit up the interior of the car and he could see the faces of all four kids and their terror at the moment of impact.  When it interviewed him, it had been five years since that accident and he still had nightmares about it.

 

The best protection at a grade crossing is one that doesn't allow a vehicle to drive around the gates.  You can do that with a grade separation or four-quad gates.  More expensive?  Yes. But worth the investment when you consider the far greater and more tragic costs of lives lost or debiliating injuries.

Plan approved for new crossing gates

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

By RICHARD PAYERCHIN

[email protected]

 

VERMILION — The plan to create a quiet zone in Vermilion by installing new railroad crossing gates has gotten the city's stamp of approval.

 

Vermilion City Council on Monday voted 5-0 for a plan to install the new quad gates at the railroad crossings of Main, Grand and Adams streets, with Perry Street's railroad crossing to close.

 

Click on link for article.

 

URL: http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/04/15/news/erie_huron/mj900331.prt

 

I'd really like to see the Van Buren Street crossing in Fort Wayne, on the busy NS former Nickel Plate mainline between Cleveland and Chicago, quieted. So far, nearby homeowners haven't been able to get anything done about it.

 

It's the only grade-level crossing in about a mile to the west and maybe a couple of miles to the east, and it's adjacent to a hospital, which I would think would exert some leverage. Although it's too far to create an annoyance for me, it's still loud at my house when the wind is right and I know that the noise has depressed property values in that part of the neighborhood.

 

I think the price was quoted (probably by the railroad) at $250K a few years ago, and the homeowner who was pushing for it dropped it and sold his historic house at a loss.

can they throw a couple of bucks at the corner of van aken and shaker.  I'd like to sleep late once in while!