(The Associated Press distributed the following article on June 14.)
CHESAPEAKE, W.Va. — Jeff Johnson is used to train horns interrupting his sleep because his home is about 200 feet from a double mainline railroad track, but he still doesn’t like it.
“I go to sleep between 9 and 10 at night, then more than 100 decibels comes through my bedroom, rolling me to the floor,” said Johnson, 43. “When you get to sleep, there comes another one. This has been ongoing since my childhood. It’s gotten worse.”
Johnson might get some silence soon. A federal rule going into effect Dec. 19 will enable communities nationwide to quiet train horns at crossings if certain safety requirements are met, like having median providers and extra gates, which can cost $100,000 or more, said Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Steven Kulm.
Kulm said train horns save lives. In 2003, 324 motorists died at railroad crossings, according to the FRA.
“We also realize they cause some concern because of noise issues, and it’s a quality-of-life issue,” he said. “The rule tries to balance noise issues with quality of life.”
About 9 million Americans are affected by train horn noise, the FRA says. Kulm said the new rule could reduce that number by 3.4 million.
About 2,000 “quiet zones” already exist. West Virginia has two in Kenova, compared to 601 – the most of any state – in Wisconsin.
The rule will do away with all of these, but communities will have seven years to add required safety measures and apply to the FRA before the horns sound again, Kulm said.
“Depending on risk and accident history, there may be some crossings where you don’t have to do anything,” Kulm said. “Local conditions will dictate what sort of upgrades need to be done.”
There are 1,585 public highway rail crossings in West Virginia.
Jane Covington, regional spokeswoman for CSX Transportation, which operates the railroad line that runs through Chesapeake, said that track averages about 45 trains a day.
Chesapeake Council Member Robert Harmon Sr. said the council discussed the new rule at its last meeting. He said he didn’t know if it was worth putting up gates at the town’s unguarded crossing because there are only three homes across it. Harmon said he hoped another guarded crossing would meet the agency’s standards.
Engineers must blow the horn four times at crossings, two long blows, followed by a short, followed by a long. By federal law, the horn must sound no lower than 96 decibels and no louder than 110 decibels at a point 100 feet in front of the locomotive.
Because Chesapeake has two public crossings within one mile the horn blowing can seem endless, Johnson said.
Johnson got so fed up with the train horns last year that he spent $50 on a sound-level meter. He stood on his parents’ front porch, which sits 50 feet away from the tracks, to get an idea of how loud the noise was. He said the highest horn he recorded was more than 100 decibels.
“We shouldn’t have to travel to a park, hospital or library to get away from the noise,” he said.