Locomotive Horns and Quiet Zones
June
23, 2005
The Final Rule on Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings,
which allows the establishment of Quiet Zones, goes into effect
tomorrow, June 24, 2005. For more information, see TOM BUTT E-FORUM
February 4, 2005, Quiet
Zones and Long Trains.
The time has come for the City of Richmond to honor the public policy directives set by the City Council. On April 13, 2004, in Resolution 62-04 directing the city manager and city attorney to initiate an application for a Quiet Zone throughout the City of Richmond and to file a Petition for Declaratory Order with the Surface Transportation Board requesting that the Board compel UP and BNSF to share tracks in a way that will eliminate the passage of long, through trains through south Richmond. The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors passed Resolution 2003-196 that is similar. Neither the city manager nor the city attorney has taken complied with Resolution 62-04, although I know that Assistant City Attorney Wayne Nishioka has been working on the Quiet Zone issue for some time.
For more information on Quiet Zones, see the FRA website and the links below:
In response to a legislative mandate, FRA has issued a Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings. This final rule, which requires that locomotive horns be sounded as a warning to highway users at public highway-rail crossings, will take effect on June 24, 2005. Until June 24, 2005, the sounding of locomotive horns at public crossings will remain subject to applicable State and local laws. The final rule provides an opportunity, not available until now, for thousands of localities nationwide to mitigate the effects of train horn noise by establishing new "quiet zones." The rule also details actions communities with pre-existing "whistle bans" can take to preserve the quiet they have become accustomed to.
What you can do:
Contact the Mayor and City Council members and ask them to direct the city manager and city attorney to comply with policy direction given in Resolution 62-04.
You can contact every member of the City Council via email by cutting and pasting the email addresses below:
irma_anderson@ci.richmond.ca.us; mlpenn@pacbell.net; natbates@pacbell.net; GayleMcL@sbcglobal.net; johnemarquez@aol.com; tom.butt@intres.com; richard_griffin@ci.richmond.ca.us; elirapty@aol.com; maria_viramontes@ci.richmond.ca.us
Phone numbers and mail addresses of the City Council are also available at http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/government/terms.html.
Press
Release
Final
Rule
Record
of Decision: Use of Locomotive Horns Final Rule
Final
Environmental Impact Statement
Guidance on the Quiet Zone Creation Process
Quiet
Zone Calculator
Flow
Chart Explanatory Text
Chart
1A -- Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and Pre-Rule Quiet Zones Qualifying for Automatic
Approval
Chart
1B: Pre-Rule Quiet Zones and Pre-Rule Partial Quiet Zones Not Qualified
for Automatic Approval
Chart
2: Intermediate Quiet Zones and Intermediate Partial Quiet Zones
Chart
3: Creating a New Quiet Zone or New Partial Quiet Zone using SSMs
Chart
4A: Creating a Quiet Zone using Modified SSMs
Chart
4B: Creating a Quiet Zone using Engineering ASMs
Chart
4C: Creating a Quiet Zone using Non-Engineering ASMs
Notifications
Safety
/ Issues
Update
WANT TO RECEIVE TOM BUTT E-FORUM AND OTHER ACTION ALERTS ON RICHMOND POLITICAL AND COMMUNITY ISSUES DELIVERED TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? EMAIL YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS AND/OR THE NAMES AND EMAIL ADDRESSES OF OTHERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE PLACED ON THE MAILING LIST AND THE MESSAGE "SUBSCRIBE" TO tom.butt@intres.com. COMMENTS, ARGUMENTS AND CORRECTIONS ARE WELCOME. TOM BUTT IS A MEMBER OF THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL WHEN OPINIONS AND VIEWS EXPRESSED, WITHOUT OTHER ATTRIBUTION, IN TOM BUTT E-FORUM, THEY ARE THOSE OF TOM BUTT AND DO NOT REFLECT OFFICIAL VIEWS OR POSITIONS OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND OR THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. VISIT THE TOM BUTT WEBSITE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT TOM BUTT'S ACTIVITIES ON THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL: http://www.tombutt.com. PHONE 510/236-7435 OR 510/237-2084. SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS SERVICE IS AT THE PERSONAL DISCRETION OF THE RECIPIENT AND MAY BE TERMINATED BY RESPONDING WITH “UNSUBSCRIBE.” IT MAY TAKE A FEW DAYS TO REMOVE ADDRESSES FROM THE DISTRIBUTION LIST
