(Newsday posted the following article by Emerson Clarridge on its website on March 8.)
NEW YORK — As Long Island Rail Road trains rumbled through the five road crossings in Cedarhurst each day, residents cover their ears at the blast of the train’s horn.
Two long blasts, one short and then a long blast from the train’s air horn, have become a routine headache for residents. Some said they even go to bed with ear plugs to block out the noise.
To provide some relief to residents, LIRR officials Thursday tested a new apparatus for its train’s air horns that they said will reduce by a few decibels, the piercing noise that can be heard through the village’s densely packed apartment buildings and single-family homes.
State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said, “Today’s test was an important step that will help improve the quality-of-life in communities along the Far Rockaway branch.” Skelos is the senate representative on the MTA’s four-person Capital Program Review Board.
For the past several years, residents have complained about the noise. At each of the road crossings, federal regulations require that engineers blast an air horn — at least 96 decibels — several times.
But residents said they have taken readings as high as 119 decibels and that the noise is a health risk. The horn, railroad officials said, is a safety measure intended to warn pedestrians or cars on the tracks.
During the test Thursday, MTA officials used a stainless steel baffle that covers the horn and reduces the sound. While the air horn is still loud, residents said they noticed a difference. Civic activists called the test a positive first step that they hoped would ultimately lead to relief.
“More important than the results of this particular test, is the fact it’s being conducted,” said Jack Mevorach, an activist who lives about a block from the Cedarhurst station.
After the test, acting LIRR President Ray Kenny joined village officials and activists for a meeting at village hall. He said that it would take the railroad a year to install the baffles on all of its 836 newer M-7 trains.
But one village resident, Ronnie Baker, said her problem was with the horn-happy conductors who blast it more times than what is required. She told Kenny that on a trip home from New York in January with her grandson the noise was deafening.
“He didn’t take off that heavy hand,” she said. “I want action.”