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Post by T on Apr 26, 2015 12:39:45 GMT -5
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AJ Kleipass
Superintendent
I'm a few trains shy of being featured on a special episode of Hoarders!
Posts: 160 
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Post by AJ Kleipass on Apr 26, 2015 16:19:21 GMT -5
This reminds me of a local story about Long Island Rail Road trains idling nosily between morning and evening commuter runs. High rise co-op / condo buildings were built within earshot of the yard and their new residents were quickly up in arms about the noise. It didn't matter that the yard was there about 150 years before the high rises, or that those trains had been laying over there since before those residents were born (and possibly since before their grandparents had been born). No, the trains had to go...
Quiet zones are fine for lightly used, low speed track where the trains can flag the crossing for safety, but crossings like the ones in the news story should only be silenced by elimination. Close it, bridge over it, or tunnel under it, but don't add to the train crews' worries by silencing a crossing and expecting drivers to do the right thing -- if they were doing that in the first place, we wouldn't need the horns, flashing ditch lights, bells, gongs, wig-wags, big red flashing lights, barricades, etc. etc. etc.
And, for the record, I grew up in a high rise that was, at most, 150 feet from the elevated subway tracks in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Easily 250 trains a day between revenue moves and off-duty & work trains moving to and from the Coney Island yards & shops. Granted, not that much horn usage, but there was a slight curve just at the eastern edge of the station... If you think horns are bad, try wheel squeal! LOL!
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Post by jmlaboda on Apr 26, 2015 17:33:12 GMT -5
What I think that the government should do for any community wanting QTs is to require beefed up grade crossing protection first before a QT can be established. While it won't stop every auto four-quadrant gates can stop most of them. Once such is installed then I think that a town or community should be allowed to establish such but not until then... tracks are too dangerous for all to many stupid drivers let alone left at the mercy of equally stupid politicians.
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fr8kar
Chairman
Little man raise the cotton, beer joints get the money
Posts: 309
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Post by fr8kar on Apr 27, 2015 15:00:26 GMT -5
Here in Texas (at least in my area) for a crossing to be made a quiet zone either gates must fully block the crossing from either side or medians must be in place to prevent traffic from crossing into the opposing lane to go around the gates. At least it's more difficult for drivers to get across if not impossible. Of course, there is always the inventive driver who finds a way to defeat these safety measures. At least one time every trip someone goes around the gates [edit: the gates at any crossing, not just quiet zones], so I appreciate the improvements to quiet zones.
We don't sound the horn in a quiet zone but we are required to sound the horn for men or equipment working, such as when Form B limits overlap the quiet zone crossing or at any other time we deem necessary. However, if you do sound the horn in a quiet zone and there's not a Form B, you have to fill out and submit a report explaining the circumstances. I don't care for the paperwork when the horn must be sounded, but I understand it.
I went through Norman, Oklahoma the other day and there was a carnival going on in town. In our bulletins there was a message indicating there would be heavy pedestrian traffic in the area and we were instructed to whistle freely. In spite of the blaring horn at all the crossings (and there are 8 in a row in Norman), people just stood right there within mere feet of the track as my train went by. To the moron playing chicken with my train, are you really that stupid? Yes, you might clear the locomotives, but what about the high/wide Boeing cars behind the locomotives? What about a hanging strap from a pipe load or a dragging chain from a flatcar? How does your wife and children benefit from seeing you killed before their eyes? Answer: they don't. Stand away from the train behind the gates. And I know it's not on anyone's mind, but I don't want to have to deal with killing anyone. My conductor definitely doesn't want to have to walk half a mile back to discover your corpse in one or more pieces.
So, how do I feel about quiet zones? Well, I hate the NIMBY attitude that this noisy railroad won't stop being noisy every since I bought this brand new high-rise condominium. That's like people who buy a house to be close to the airport then complain about jet noise and polluted air. But if they prevent people from putting themselves in harm's way and keep me from killing them with my train, I welcome them.
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Post by iomalley on Apr 27, 2015 18:47:18 GMT -5
14L exemptions are quite common in Canada. Pretty well any town bigger than say 30,000 people has them in effect through some subdivisions in the town. It seems to be dependant on the value of the houses in the vicinity, as a small town outside London, for eg, with a pop of maybe 7500 has this exemption, only because the median house price is $300k. Affluence tends to have more pull with the municipality where the impoverished tend to be more apathetic to the noise. There is no provision for centreline barriers in Canada in 14L exemption zones. I was in Fostoria on Saturday, and spied this moron parking super close to the tracks, and the dude lived there! Talk about playing the odds of getting a banding strap thru the back window!  BTW, there is no such thing as a Pedestrian on the tracks when a train hits them. They are trespassers! |
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Post by beentherecnthat on Apr 28, 2015 15:57:32 GMT -5
In Canada, as more municipalities tried to enforce quiet zones, the railways clued in and said they would allow a quiet zone on a crossing if the municipality pays the insurance for that crossing. The municipalities lists shrank instantly.
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Post by jmlaboda on Apr 28, 2015 19:20:07 GMT -5
Ah, but think of the result if such happens... it will usually only happen once!!!
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Post by m a y o r 79 on Apr 29, 2015 12:20:12 GMT -5
I don't work for a railroad but I have a few friends that do. They've said that if an accident is eminent they are allowed to do anything and everything to try to avoid it. Basically meaning that if they're in a QZ and someone is on the tracks they can lay on the horn as long as needed to *hopefully* get the persons attention and make them move. I assume though that you guys would have to fill out paperwork then right?
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