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FRA Audits Engineers
Federal Railroad Administration
From: "Christine Gaunt"
[email protected]
Subject: train whistles
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:54:46 -0700
DEAR SLEEPLESS IN SAN DIEGO VICTIMS:
I
just got off the phone with Lena Kent, Community Affairs Director from
BNSF. Two weeks ago the FRA started auditing the BNSF engineers to
make sure they were in compliance with the FRA mandatory regulations
which are detailed by Gary Smith below. If they were even several
seconds short of the mandatory 15 seconds before every crossing, they
were written up for non-compliance. A number of engineers were cited,
leaving them only one more chance. Deciding not to lose their jobs by
incurring a second infraction and mandatory termination, they began
strictly adhering to the number of honks, the number of seconds prior
to every intersection and holding the horn button until it lights up
to the pre-measured decibel level. Lena tells me that the engineers
realize that this is a very bad situation since the FRA now mandates
that they honk almost continuously through all of Downtown San Diego,
regardless of whether there are any issues on the tracks or
crossings. On the second time they are caught (and they are being
recorded by satellite!) they will be fired from their $100k a year
job. The tapes are being reviewed and they have been told that
excessive honking will also prompt action.
Lena's frustration is with San Diego's failure to act several years
before when we could have applied for a quiet zone. At that time,
Byron Wear decided that the FRA could change their mind on
requirements and we should just wait until we had a ruling. The FRA
took several additional years to make this ruling, and at that time
the honking was discretionary, unlike today. The City of Placentia
decided to go for a Quiet Zone and the FRA subsequently did give their
blessing to it. We could have done the same and in the opinion of
Lena Kent, we should do this as quickly as possible since getting the
FRA to amend their rules, which are largely unfavorable to San Diego,
is most uncertain and a multi-year endeavor, at best. At that time a
Quiet Zone is in place it will again be discretionary for engineers to
sound their horns.
If
we have any video proof of excessive honking beyond what you see is
mandated then Lena would like to have that to review. She has been
invited to the public meeting but received death threats in Placentia,
for which one man is currently in prison! She is understandably
reluctant to place her young children in the position of becoming
orphans. It is possible someone will be sent in her place to address
this on behalf of Burlington Northern.
Given this situation, I can understand why engineers would want to err
on the side of more seconds of honking, in this rather imprecise
process. Still, there is a huge range in how much they open the
horns. They must look at their watches and estimate the number of
seconds until they reach the crossings.
Moving the train yard south would help in several ways. The train is
going very slow through town due to the proximity of the train yard
and needing about a mile to stop. The blocking of intersections is a
big problem and Lena has asked that we report any blockages of longer
than 10 minutes and do that right at the time or just after it
occurs. This she can deal with.
In
summary, we will be held captive to a great deal of train honking
noise until we get the Quiet Zones in place. No local ordinance can
super cede a Federal Regulation. This was a different set of
circumstances than the last time I investigated in 2004, and I thought
you might find it of interest.
Christine Gaunt
Marketing Consultant
500 W. Harbor Dr. # 802
San Diego, CA 92101
Cell: 619-250-0747
Off: 619-236-0114
FAX: 619-236-0115
[email protected]
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Sleepless
in San Diego
Information and Contacts regarding Train Horns & a Quiet Zone in San Diego 
