It may take up to three weeks for railroad to silence horns on trains passing through city
The Federal Railroad Administration has approved the City of Burlington’s request to reinstate quiet zone status at the city’s five railroad crossings.
That means, according to City Administrator Kevin Lahner, that Canadian National trains traveling through the city will cease sounding their horns within in the next 21 days.
The news is certainly welcomed by residents and business owners – especially those adjacent to the railway – who’ve endured blaring train horns for nearly three months.
The city lost the quiet zone status it held for many years in late June after officials missed a deadline to complete safety improvements at local rail crossings.
Lahner has blamed the mistake on an erroneous entry on a planning calendar, which led officials to believe the deadline was not until 2014. Since losing the quiet zone city crews have scrambled to implement safety improvements and reapply for quiet zone reinstatement.
According to a press release issued by Lahner Monday, “Under federal rules, the railroad must stop sounding their horns 21 days from when the Notice of Quiet Zone Establishment is mailed. The trains will stop by Oct. 7, 2013, and may stop prior to this date, pending approval from the Canadian National/Wisconsin Central railroad.”
Lahner said city crews have already removed the covering on rail crossing signs that warn motorists of no train horns.
For full coverage of the train horn issue, see the Sept. 19 print edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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This “better be true!
boo
this is the suckiest news ever. i want my train horns back.
if you don’t like the horns go live somewhere away from the tracks.
no one ever told you that you had to live close to the tracks
I have a great solution to your problem. Record the train noises for 24 hours and just loop it when the trains stop blowing their horns! If you want I could stand by McDonald’s and record it for you and drive by your house 26 times a day and blare it out of my car speakers! Choice is yours, just let me know. I am there for you bud!
i would love to hear it. in case you haven’t noticed by my name im a train enthusiast. I’ve been within 15 feet of a blaring horn, and i cheered the person that blew the horn on. so if you think the noise would bother me think again.
What a sad life you must lead if you have to enjoy the suffering of others. People have truly suffered due to this mistake by the city. Perhaps if you looked beyond yourself and your childish “i want my train horns’ attitude you would see how this has affected the lives of many of the Burlington residents and businesses.
quiet zones are for people who hate noise that are dumb enough to live close to the railroad. such good logic: move in near the railroad , blame the railroad for the noise disturbing you. ive said it before and i’ll say it again. dont like the noise live somewhere else send your hate mail here. im not gonna lose sleep over it https://www.facebook.com/seanpellmann17
Perhaps you should take to heart your DeMolay/Masonic teachings and try to make yourself a better man. This is accomplished by putting the needs of others before your own.
Well, I live over a mile from the railroad tracks and I am still bothered by the train horns in the middle of the night. It’s not just the people that live adjacent to the railroad tracks that are complaining buddy!!!
Tough, that was bad planning on your part for not looking to see if a rail line was around. Get used to it and please, grow up. Trains have horns for safety reasons, and are required to blow them at crossing so people don’t get killed. There is a 68% higher chance that someone will get hit at a Quiet Zone than a horn zone.
You’re a very ignorant person, move somewhere else if you don’t like it. I have to deal with actually hitting people while I’m running trains, and almost every time its been at a quiet zone.
Guess it’s all a moot point now that the train horns won’t be being used. Maybe now YOU can move somewhere where the horns are still blaring?
WELL SAID “GROW UP”!
so because i like trains blowing their horns, i enjoy people suffering. um maybe i enjoy train horns because im a train enthusiast. everyone is so quick to attack because i do stuff that doesn’t revolve around them, and because of that I’m the bad person.
this is one thing that’s wrong with wrong with society.
Burlington Train Guy – I have no problem with people enjoying train horns. But Burlington put IN its downtown based on the quiet zone status. If you like the horns so much, go listen to them someplace where they aren’t disturbing the general populace who moved there on the notion that, gee, we have a quiet zone and won’t have to listen to the horns.
Or instead of being ignorant, why don’t you either…
A: Move somewhere else.
B: Wear ear plugs.
C: Deal with it.
I’m getting really sick of all these NIMBYs bitching about train horns. It’s my job to sound them at grade crossings for the safety of everyone. By the way, if people don’t want to be disturbed or listen to the horns then they can find some other solution. Your stinkpot town is only there because of the railroad. Learn your facts.
Please keep blowing them, then maybe the people will wake up and realize the toxic rolling pipeline that is traveling through their “stinkpot” of a town. The railroad does have a reason to be concerned for liability. Imagine the mess if one of those trains loaded with tankers of Molten Sulfur derailed. The railroad may have been instrumental in the early years of this town, but it is clear that their current employees just see us as a “stinkpot” and a pass through to haul their hazardous waste, make their profits, and put our town at risk.
Doubtful that posting under several monikers will get your point across any better. It is also highly doubtful that you are an engineer, even if you play one online to raise a stink on an issue. If you did represent the railroad at all, you have done it an injustice and should be ashamed. Grow up and have some sympathy for those who have been affected by this change in ordinance. people see right through your childish ramblings.
well maybe its their own fault they live close enough to the tracks to hear the horns
There should be a strict policy implemented to stop usage of train horns. i have seen so many youngsters roaming in to streets holding horns and blowing them on old people and pregnant woman. this is insanity…secondly, people living near railroad track can understand how unbearable horns are.
quiet zones are the cause of programs such as “operation lifesaver”.
with as many idiots as there are around this town a quiet one is dangerous. that logic of they deserve to get hit is a little selfish. if a person were to get hit it would cause the crew and any witnesses to have emotional trauma for a long time. a family friend was an engineer for metra in chicago. a kid ran out in front of his train. nobody saw him for weeks after the incident.
wow what a hypocrite you complain about horns and the antics the youth are doing using a horn, yet if you click your name you go to a website for train horns.
With that logic, all cars should start blowing their horns when they get to crosswalks. They should blow them continuously as they pass by parks and through school zones. These are the places where children are most likely to run in the street and no one would want the trauma associated with accidentally hitting a child that darted into the street. It is better to have the loud obnoxious noise of the horns than to teach responsibility near roadways and railways.
the reason horns are needed on trains is because people are stupid enough to be on the railroad right of way. the logic of “they deserve to get killed” is selfish. the horns reduce the liability if an incident occurred. however honking your horn at ever intersection would be useless because your car can stop alot easier than a train would.