The Town of Sahuarita occasionally receives noise complaints about train horns in our area, though railroads are federally regulated. The aim of train-horn regulations is to assure public safety.
The
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in cooperation with Union Pacific
Railroad (UPR) and others, have developed sensible regulations for the benefit
of the public and railroad employees.
Railroad systems were established in our area in the 1800’s, and towns in
Arizona have developed around them due to the economic boost that these
corridors provided for the development of the United States.
Railways
continue to provide essential infrastructure for conducting business and
provision of basic necessities to the public.
Most of the railroad crossings in Sahuarita are “at-grade crossings,” hereafter
referred to as "road-level crossings." This is where railroads
cross roadways at the same level as roadway traffic. At these crossings,
traffic must be stopped while a train moves through.
To assure safety, federal regulations
require that train horns be sounded for 15-20 seconds before reaching all
road-level crossings, but not more than one-quarter mile in advance.
The FRA has defined a required pattern for blowing the horns: two long, one
short, and one long-sounding horn. These are repeated as necessary until a
train clears a crossing. Locomotive engineers are allowed to vary this
pattern at crossings in close proximity to each other, and are also allowed to
sound the horn in emergency situations.
In October 1996, federal
regulations established an option for “quiet zones” at road-level crossings
provided that safety measures are in place. Such "quiet zones" must
also have an accident rate that meets federally acceptable standards.
UPR believes quiet zones compromise
safety, and while they don’t endorse them, they do comply with these provisions
of federal law.
There are several types of
“quiet zones” that a town could conceivably implement, but they all require
meeting qualifying conditions, and include the installation of expensive gates,
medians, fencing and warning equipment.
Estimated costs can be as high as $500,000 per crossing, with a connection fee
of $5,000 to $15,000, and annual maintenance costs of $4,000 to $10,000.
In order to silence the train horns in the Sahuarita area, these would have to
be installed at every crossing, because horns can be heard from such great
distance.