Monday, April 24, 2000
Neighbors rail against trains
Noise reduction proposed
By Sara J. Bennett
The Cincinnati Enquirer
From Chip and Natalie Halbauer's doorstep in Glendale, an oncoming train sounds like thunder.
The Halbauers support train quiet zones.
(Jeff Swinger photo)
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The locomotive approaches the crossing in front of the couple's house with a great rumble, belches a series of shrill horn blasts and roars by.
It could have been worse.
“They're on their good behavior today,” Mr. Halbauer said. “In spring and fall when you want to open your windows, you can't because it's deafening, and you won't sleep. You could put it in the category of toxic noise.”
People living near railroad crossings for years have struggled with increasingly loud train whistles. The noise is meant to prevent crashes, but it irritates neighbors, especially late at night.
Now, peace appears on the horizon. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has proposed silencing train whistles at crossings designated as “quiet zones.”
Communities may create quiet zones by installing devices that would do more than traditional gates and lights to prevent cars from reaching railroad tracks.
Residents and lawmakers from around the area will attend a May 1 hearing in Berea, Ohio, to learn more.
New rules could go on the books by the end of the year.
It can't be soon enough for
Middletown residents who have tried for decades to muzzle trains zipping through the city's Maple Park area. Local lawmakers already have sent a quiet zone proposal to the FRA and earmarked money for safety upgrades.
“I've been telling these poor people for the last five years that relief is on the way, but it never seems to get here,” Middletown Law Director Leslie Landin said.
Pros and cons
Train whistles are so vital that the Environmental Protection Agency has exempted them from noise regulation.
A 1995 FRA study showed crashes increased 84 percent at crossings where communities banned horn blowing.
In Ohio and Kentucky, train/vehicle crashes at public intersections have dropped by about 50 percent, while crashes in Indiana have held relatively steady.
Even so, no federal law in effect requires trains to sound horns at traffic crossings, although Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana law and all major railroad companies require it.
“There's no benefit from blowing the horn other than to avoid accidents,” said Gary Wollenhaupt, a spokesman for CSX Transportation. “We know they can be annoying and if you live near a track it is not pleasant, but we make no apologies for why we blow the horn.”
Still, municipalities have tried to strike compromises for quiet. FRA officials say Middletown is one of more than 300 nationwide that have tried passing “whistle bans” at crossings near residential areas.
Louisville worked out its quiet zone agreement with railroad companies, said Steve Sanders, a consultant with the Kentucky Railroad Commission.
He said the commission has received few noise complaints from Northern Kentucky, which has few crossings in residential areas.
Lately, residents say the noise has gotten worse as whistles have grown louder to compete with car stereos and soundproofing.
Middletown residents have known for a few years that the FRA was considering quiet zones, but they say the process has gone too slowly. This month, a frustrated state Sen. Scott Nein, R-Middletown, introduced a bill to limit a railroad company's liability if a train hit a car on a railroad crossing covered by a whistle ban.
The bill is modeled after an Indiana law. Hearings will be this spring but Sen. Nein said he fears railroads won't go along out of concern that courts and federal regulations could override state law.
The best hope for peace seems to be the FRA's new proposal.
Regulations would set maximum horn loudness and they the duration of horn or whistle blasts.
New regulations also would put into effect a federal law requiring horn blowing at all traffic crossings except where communities establish quiet zones by adding:
ăGates that block all traffic lanes on both sides of the tracks.
ăMedian barriers to keep cars from changing lanes and going around lowered gates.
ăPaired one-way streets.
ăNighttime crossing closures.
ăCameras to catch motorists who try to race trains across the tracks.
Those improvements are expensive, however, and “who pays?” likely will be a question at next month's public hearing.
quiet zone costs.
Glendale Village Manager Wally Cordes said he supports railroad companies footing the entire bill.
“Let's face it,” he said. “They're the enterprise, we're not.”
Trains' lure, lore
Trains have been part of Glendale since the planned community sprang up in 1855. Train buffs have been known to hang around the village square and many residents enjoy the air of romance that the railroad creates.
In recent years, however, louder whistles have some people covering their ears.
Village lore abounds with stories of engineers known by the length and loudness of their honking and of the individual who climbed into a stopped train and threatened to throttle the engineer.
When village officials heard about the opportunity for quiet zones, they were ecstatic.
“I thought maybe it was just (nearby) Wyoming or Glendale that were really getting pounded, but it turns out a lot of states are having problems,” Village Manager Cordes said. “Maybe we can invest a little more and have a quiet, historic town.”
Glendale's delegation to Berea on May 1 will include Mr. Halbauer, fellow resident Nicholas MacConnell, and Police Chief Matthew Fruchey.
Chief Fruchey is a railroad fan who is interested in finding ways to help residents live more peacefully with trains but quiet zonesmake him nervous.
Concerned about pedestrians, he proposed more than proposed quiet zone crossing improvements: decorative fences along the railroad right of way through the village.
“I fully realize how dangerous railroads are,” he said. “I would not want to put kids crossing the tracks at risk just so people could sleep a lot better at night.”
The Ohio area FRA public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 1 in Berea's Kleist Center for Art and Drama at Baldwin-Wallace College, 95 E. Bagley Road. People wishing to speak should notify Docket Clerk, Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad Administration, MS-10, 1120 Vermont Ave. NW, Washington D.C., 20590. The deadline is Wednesday. Or e-mail renee.bridgers@fra.dot.gov
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