Saturday, January 16, 1999
Middletown to seek federal law on train whistles
Noise complaint goes to Congress
BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN — Next stop for city officials' battle over loud train whistles: the U.S. Capitol.
Residents here have com plained for years about train horns disturbing their sleep. The city, which has battled the railroads for years in court over the whistles, worked with Conrail to develop quiet zones, and submitted the plan to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) last spring.
But the city was notified by letter last month that the FRA cannot order trains to cease blowing their whistles in the city. The agency cannot act because appropriate federal regulations are not in place, officials said.
So on Friday, City Manager Ron Olson sent a letter to U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich and Rep. John Boehner, R-West Chester, asking for intervention.
The letter said that “be cause of the mandates contained in the High Speed Rail Act of 1994, local governments are severely restricted” in dealing with whistles in highly populated areas.
The 1994 law requires the FRA to develop regulations regarding grade-crossing safety and required the blowing of whistles at every crossing without supplemental safety devices.
“Cities need your help...,” the letter said.
Bruce George, FRA staff director for highway rail crossings programs, said Friday that his agency can order trains to silence their horns only if “it's promoting research — a project to demonstrate the viability of new supplemental safety measures that might improve safety at the crossings.”
“The things they proposed to us aren't new,” so the research exemption does not apply, Mr. George said.
However, Middletown's quiet-zone proposals are good, “and we'd like to see them go forward with it as long as it complies with state law,” Mr. George said.
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