(The following article by Tom Hester Jr. was posted on the Trenton Times website on November 29.)
TRENTON, N.J. — The lonesome whistle whine from a passing train rolling faraway through the night has long inspired thoughts of impetuous adventure – unless that train rolls past your house every 15 minutes.
“It’s like having a monster on the block,” says Al Csapo of Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown City.
For months, Csapo has been rudely awakened daily by NJ Transit’s new River Line trains as they cruised through his small riverside city on runs between Trenton and Camden. Horns would blow several times on each trip, with the noise lasting as long as 20 to 30 seconds, he said.
“It was waking me up at 6 o’clock every morning,” he said.
But those who live and work near the crossing met with municipal officials and NJ Transit and worked out a solution that reduced the noise, brokering a compromise agreement that eased the racket. Still, Csapo and others across the country who live near rail lines are contemplating what a new federal rule on train whistles will mean to their neighborhoods.
The new rules won’t allow agencies such as NJ Transit (NJT) to devise their own train noise regulations, nor will they allow a River Line train to only jangle its bell, for instance, as it cruises through places such as Burlington City.
“There’ll be a lot more horn-blowing in Burlington City,” said Jeff Taylor, that city’s municipal engineer.
NJT spokesman Dan Stessel said the agency plans to ask the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to grant a waiver for the River Line that would allow it to follow its own noise rules.
The new light-rail line, with quiet self-propelled cars that typically operate as one- or two-car trains, may be getting trapped in the new rule seemingly designed to help places such as Houston, where heavy freight traffic has increased from nine trains per day in the mid-1990s to 40 trains per day.
“The River Line is different from commuter rail or from freight trains,” Stessel said. “It is more akin to a trolley than a freight train, so different rules are appropriate.”– — —
It’s uncertain whether the federal government will agree. The rule had been scheduled to take effect Dec. 18, but FRA spokesman Warren Flatau said more time is needed to review comments, and now the rule won’t become effective until April 1.
“We want to be sensitive to the communities we serve, but safety and compliance with federal regulations will always be our priority,” Stessel said.
Other Trenton-area passenger rail lines in New Jersey – Amtrak and NJT Northeast Corridor service and SEPTA’s R3 and R7 lines – lack public road crossings, so the River Line would be the only one in the area affected by the new rule.
Bordentown City Mayor William Collum said it’s vital that the FRA grant NJT a waiver for the River Line. “If they don’t, we’re going to be back in the soup again,” he said.
Collum said he hopes the waiver is granted but said he doesn’t know what the city will do if it’s not approved.
“If they insist on blowing the train horn the way they want to, it’s going to cause a problem for us,” he said.
Taylor said replacing the River Line’s ringing bells in Burlington City – which has several crossings – with horns blowing at at least 96 decibels will cause problems in that city.
“It is a concern,” Taylor said. “We’ll obviously have a lot more people complaining about the horn.”
Locomotive horn use has been governed by state law and railroad operating rules, but the FRA said the new law is designed to bring less overall noise to areas with railroad crossings. The FRA contends the rule would reduce noise for 3.4 million of the 9.3 million people nationwide affected by train horns.
“Train horns are important safety devices, but they also can be a nuisance for residents,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a statement. “This rule means less noise for millions of Americans living near railroad crossings.”– — —
The rule would require locomotives to sound their horn at public road rail crossings, requiring horns to be sounded 15 to 20 seconds before arrival at the crossing, rather than the current quarter-mile. Horns must sound from 96 to 110 decibels, according to the new rule. The River Line’s loudest noise level is 96 decibels, Stessel said.
The pattern for horn blowing, under the rule, would have to include two long, one short and one long repeated or prolonged until the locomotive traverses the crossing, though train engineers are given latitude to vary this pattern where crossings are closely spaced.
The rule would provide exceptions so communities can establish quiet zones where public crossings are equipped with certain flashing lights and gates and the average risk at the crossing, as determined by a complex formula, is less than the national average for gated crossings.
Communities can meet quiet zone standards by, among other things, installing gates that block both lanes of traffic in both directions and a median divider to prevent drivers from crossing lanes to go around a lowered gate.
The River Line doesn’t have gates that block both lanes of traffic, and there are crossings in places such as Camden having no gates at all. Communities would have to do their own quiet zone studies, Stessel said, with NJT unable to help communities pay for crossing upgrades.
“We simply don’t have the ability to assist communities financially,” he said, adding NJT believes “appropriate crossing protection is currently in place.”
The River Line has been involved in three accidents with vehicles since it began running in March – two in Burlington City and one in Camden, according to NJT. Stessel said the motorist in each case was charged with failing to obey traffic laws.
“We are following the process very closely,” Stessel said. “We are certainly sensitive to the concerns of the communities, and we will continue to work aggressively to get a waiver for the River Line.”