While people debate the need for train horns through downtown Burlington – where there hasn’t been a train-vs.-car crash for 30 years – it has become clear not all train operators are on the same page when it comes to the duration of the horn blasts.
The required signal for each crossing is a series of long and short horn blasts as the train approaches and enters each intersection. However, because of the relatively close proximity of Burlington’s city crossings, some operators have essentially resorted to what is best described as a continuous horn blast through the the city’s downtown.
Check out the following cell phone video for an example of this.
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The required whistle pattern is two long blasts, one short blast, and one long blast. The last long blast is supposed to be blown until the train occupies the crossing. If you listen to the video you can hear the pauses between the blast even though they are ever brief. As the article states, it may seem continuous due to the proximity of crossings but it is not and doing such would be a violation of railroad regulations. Yes, some people might find this annoying; but it is not the railroad’s fault that the city screwed up and this is matter of safety. It is irrelevant when the last car-train accident occured in Burlington; it only takes one time and it could cost someone their life and remember “it will never happen to me”.
I do believe the horn signal is two long, one short, then one long.
Who cares what the blasts are suppose to be. The horns blowing in the city where there are already gates and lights serves no common sense purpose. If safety is the reasoning at these crossings, then how about people put down their cell phones, newspapers, books, laptops, makeup or whatever else they are fiddling with and pay attention to DRIVING. The idiots that try to “beat the gate” deserve to get hit and taken out. They are too preoccupied with “me, me, me” instead of what is going on around them. Your right it isn’t the railroads fault. It is the government coming up with knee jerk band aids for the idiots.
Calling a long record (30 years) of rail crossing safety ‘irrelevant’ because the potential for a car-train crash always exists is ridiculous. The federal government and the railroad have an obligation to minimize the adverse impacts of the railroad on local communities through a reasonable set of regulations that sufficiently guard safety AND allow for local economic development as well as quality of life. Revoking the quiet zone in a community that has experienced no car-train crashes while the quiet zone is in place makes no sense. Furthermore, the city — even though it missed the original deadline — has safety upgrades in place at all but one of the crossings. It also has plans to address the final crossing ASAP, but that apparently is now up to the railroad’s schedule. Revoking the quiet zone based on these factors not only fails to make sense, but it is harming quality of life for anyone living near the tracks and destroying efforts to revitalize the city’s downtown. This is a case where the regulation is unreasonable and the risk without it is minimal.
There may be a good record of no incidents; but the potential still exists regardless of the record; remember: “complacency kills”. Just because no construction workers have been injured on a jobsite does not mean that they should disregard safety protocols while doing their job and remove their hardhats; and neither should the railroad. By not blowing the whistle when a crossing does not meet FRA requirements would open the railroad up to litigation if an incident occured (and yes, 30 years is a good record, but does not mean that it can’t happen). Revoking the quiet zone based on those factors may not be a popular decision but in today’s world of litigation crazy lawyers it is required. The regulation may be stringent but it is not unreasonable. They have regulations for a reason and that reason is everyone’s safety.
The only reason for non-common sense regulations are knee jerk reactions to idiots not paying attention and the failure of the judicial system(judges and lawyers) for holding people accountable for their actions.
Poll: is nick trimburger paid by the railroad or the city?
I work neither for the city of Burlington nor the Canadian National Railroad (neither directly or indirectly). I do work in the railroad signal industry and am well aware of public’s perception of trains and horns. Any comment I have made has been from a safety point of view and not based on emotion or passion. If you don’t want to take railroad safety serious you are more than welcome to ignore it. I just don’t want something bad to happen to my family in the area or anyone else for that matter. If the railroad does not follow the rules, then they are open to litigation. Is the city willing to accept legal responsibility for an accident if the horn was not blown before the crossing upgrade at MIlwaukee Ave is made? If such an incident were to occur where a horn was not blown and a car was hit then the city could be facing a lawsuit of potentially 6-figures or more. I sure wouldn’t want my taxes going towards that or having city services suffer. Yes, an engineer would still blow the whistle in an emergency if he had time; but it a car darts out right in front of him before he has time to react and gets hit that would be a sticky point in a lawsuit. It is a sad state of affairs that this is a litigation happy world and common sense seems to get lost; but like it or not that’s what it is. I have explained myself and the logic behind my arguments, if you still think I am just a pawn of the railroad or city then more power to you.
There is an old saying about all railroad rules: The rules are written in blood….
Thank You Randy!
I don’t think the train horns are that bad.
They may not be bad if you’re hard of hearing… 🙂
I can hear them from several miles away.