(The following article by Ken Goze was posted on the Pioneer Press website on June 3.)
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Suburbs hoping to keep train horns from blaring in residential areas will have to spend some time and money following the final draft of a new federal rule later this year, but the costs and difficulty of preserving those quiet zones has been exaggerated by critics of the rule, the nation’s top railroad administrator said last week.
In a telephone interview, Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter outlined some of the options communities have to avoid horn use at every crossing. He added those steps will not be as painful as municipalities fear.
“One of the misconceptions out there is this notion that the only thing communities can do to retain a pre-existing quiet zone is the most expensive possible measure. That’s not what it requires of people,” Rutter said.
Under a 1994 federal law, railroads are required to sound horns at all public street crossings unless other safety measures are in place to offset the risk of not using the horn.
The detailed rules for implementing that law are complicated and still evolving, but would measure the risk of accidents along all of the crossings in a quiet zone, such as the seven Wilmette crossings, against the estimated risks if the horns were used. A greater allowance would be used in areas with no collisions in the past five years
If the average risk along those crossings is calculated above that threshold, the community would have to choose from a list of approved solutions.
Most solutions involve engineering aimed at preventing drivers from swerving around lowered gates, such as four-quadrant gates, one-way streets with a full gate or long median barriers on streets approaching the crossing. Closing one or more crossings is another option.
Credit
Alternative safety measures such as shorter median barriers, photo enforcement or targeted police campaigns and education campaigns also could give towns credit toward their risk calculation, but not until those measures are proven effective through testing, which in some cases is already happening in certain areas.
Rutter said one technology considered experimental in the 2000 draft of the rule, wayside horns, are now accepted as solutions. That means train horns can be silenced at each crossing that has one a wayside horn. The device uses a less powerful horn mounted near the crossing.
“The main thing is it’s flexible to whatever is existing in the community itself,” Rutter said.
The rules have been amended since the agency received several thousand comments in 1999 and 2000 and about 1,300 have been received in a second round of input which ended in April. The final version of the rules are due sometime in October, Rutter said.
Towns wishing to keep existing no-horn zones will have to notify the railroad administration in writing by Dec. 18. They then will have four to seven years to develop and install any improvements they need, and the horns will remain silent during that time, Rutter said.