The NIMBYs are at it again

From the Waukegan News Sun

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article


Do these people have anything else better to do beside complain?

What you call complaining they call protecting the silence.

What's needed here is a study which shows an increased death rate from silent trains. If there isn't an increase, then what are we worrying about?

they are wasting 30,000 for that idea, forget it. Whistle at all the crossings, with all those curves your average person could tell which way the train is comming, mostly at the station at Libertyville, those are blind crossings. Keep the muskets(whistles)shooting.

Why don't they put bells and blinking lights and gates at the crossings? And robotic machine guns for the people who still, in spite of all the warnings, want to die.

I agree...there's no reason for quiet zones on the 'j' line with all the blind curves and welded rail, there's not much warning...the CP mainline is a little more open and easier to see trains approaching. Seriously, how long does a normal Whistle sequence last? It's pretty short when you compare it to the length of someone's life...

Safety...A Way Of Life.
-Metra

First, communities attempting to establish quiet zones must have crossbucks, flashers, gates, and bells at all crossings within their township, plus, the crossings also have to be equipped with timers that allow the gates to go up if a train hasn't passed through within a certain amount of time. But still, the Fox Lake sub is a single track branch line with just one siding at Grayslake that winds its way through rural portions of Lake County, and as such, I'm not sure if an absolute whistle ban would be a good idea, especially with several grade crossings located on blind curves with welded rail as mentioned earlier. Perhaps a compromise can be reached, and just create an overnight whistle ban; which really wouldn't be too difficult, since there's only two WSOR freights that run overnight, both which are usually gone by the time Metra goes to bed at 1:30am or so.

Or better yet, Libertyville and Grayslake could put that money to better use by having engineering studies done to determine the feasiblility of replacing some of those blind crossings with bridges...

hold on guys, I think you are being a little quick to jump on this

what they are doing, by my reading of the article, is looking at meeting the FRA's NEW requirements for crossings where communities wish to have whistle bans in place

If you recall, a couple of years ago, the FRA struck down all local whistle bans, unless and until the crossings had various forms of protection, including gates, lights, bells and dividers to prevent cars from 'crossing the line' and going around the gates

I don't think this is unreasonable, if they desire to spend the money to meet the new standards, that they be allowed to proceed.

should you disagree with the standards, or the fact that the FRA allows this at all, you should take it up with the FRA not with the communities that are looking to comply with the FRA requirements for 'quiet' crossings.

here's an except from the FRA on the issue

"Establishing a New Quiet Zone: A new quiet zone must be at least ½ mile in length and have at least one public highway-rail grade crossing. Every public grade crossing in a new quiet zone must be equipped at minimum with the standard or conventional flashing light and gate automatic warning system. A quiet zone may be established to cover a full 24-hour period or only during the overnight period from 10:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M.

Local governments must work in cooperation with the railroad that owns the track, and the appropriate state transportation authority to form a diagnostic team to assess the risk of collision at each grade crossing where they wish to silence the horn. An objective determination is made about where and what type of additional safety engineering improvements are necessary to effectively reduce the risk associated with silencing the horns based on localized conditions such as highway traffic volumes, train traffic volumes, the accident history and physical characteristics of the crossing, including existing safety measures.

Examples of additional safety engineering improvements that may be necessary to reduce the risk of collisions include: medians on one or both sides of the tracks to prevent a motorist from driving around a lowered gate; a four-quadrant gate system to block all lanes of highway traffic; converting a two-way street into a one-way street; permanent closure of the crossing to highway traffic; or use of wayside horns posted at the crossing directed at highway traffic only.

Once all necessary safety engineering improvements are made, the local community must certify to FRA that the required level of risk reduction has been achieved. A quiet zone becomes effective and train horns go silent only when all necessary additional safety measures are installed and operational.

Quiet Zone Exceptions: In a quiet zone, engineers have no legal duty to sound the horn, but do have discretion to do so during emergency situations (i.e. the presence of a vehicle or a person on the track).

Under federal regulations, engineers must sound the horn to warn railroad maintenance employee"

from

http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1773

That's the way I read it also.

The only thing I disagree with in the FRA regs is the option to use a wayside horn directed at traffic.

If motorists and pedestrians ignore flashing lights, bells and gates, why would they think a wayside horn would make a difference. Plus you loose the effect of the train coming and the ability to figure out which way its coming from.

Maybe they should add technology that, when the crossing gates are activated, sends out a scrambler to disconnect cell phones. Then perhaps the motorists and pedestrians would wake up and pay attention.

Looks like it's official: No horns on North Central...


http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=46314&src=19