Expensive railroad 'quiet zones' can be money well spent

NOVATO CITY NEED'S TO READ UP ON THIS RAILROAD DOES NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR ALL OF THIS THROUGH THERE CITY

Communities that are calling for quiet zones must also bear the monetary costs associated with the designation, which can be expensive.



Quiet zones must have

grade-crossing warning devices consisting of flashing lights, gates, and constant warning circuitry and power-off indicators. Crossings must have an advance warning sign that advises motorists that horns are not sounded at the crossing.

The minimum distance for a quiet zone is a half-mile in length, which could include one or several crossings.

Other safety measures that may be used in quiet zones include:

--Permanent or temporary closure of some crossings. This can mean full-time closure, or perhaps, closure only at night.

--Four-quadrant gates with medians or traffic separators.

--Crossing gates with medians or traffic separators.

--Conversion of a two-way street to a one-way street.

--Wayside horns used in place of locomotive horns.

To establish a quiet zone, local officials conduct "a di agnostic team review" of all grade crossings within the proposed quiet zone. This review must include both public and private crossings.
Public crossings within the specified area must already have both flashing lights and gates before the process can start.

The request then goes to the state transportation department, public utilities commission or other governing body, and then to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The agency has assigned a risk index to every railroad crossing in the country that indicates the relative potential of vehicle-train collisions based on a variety of factors, including historical data.

Before a quiet zone may be established, this risk index must be recalculated for each crossing, taking into account both the increased risk of banning horns and the decreased risk resulting from proposed "supplemental safety measures" to be added to each crossing.

To get a quiet zone approved, the summary risk index for the zone must be de termined and must not exceed the risk index with horns in use.

The Federal Railroad Administration rule came about because it found the way quiet zones were being instituted before the rule was increasing collisions.

Two of the agency's studies of grade crossing incidents that examined whistle bans in 1995 and 2000 concluded that "an average of 62 percent more collisions occurred at whistle-ban crossings equipped with gates than at similar crossings across the nation without bans."

Based on preliminary numbers, the new rules are having the desired effect.

In recent congressional testimony, the Railroad Administration's deputy administrator, Clifford C. Eby, said accidents at crossings in quiet zones occurred at a rate of 44 per year on average during the study period that included parts of 2005 and 2006.

That compares favorably with the nationwide average of 50.8 annual collisions outside of quiet zones studied from 2000 through 2004. Many engineers and conductors have mixed feelings about the zones.

"As long as the crossings involved are fully protected with lights -- preferably the full overhead package -- and gates, I'm OK with them," says one engineer.

Another engineer agrees, but says he feels crossings in quiet zones in his district are inadequately protected.

"They're riding on their laurels of not having hit anybody at these things, but it's coming," he says. However, when done properly, he says the quiet zones can be helpful because engineers don't have to focus on blowing horns while still thinking about train handling and other issues they must deal with.

Communities that are calling for quiet zones must also bear the monetary costs associated with the designation, which can be expensive.

A four-quadrant gate system costs between $300,000 and $500,000. A standard system runs from $185,000 to $400,000. Annual maintenance runs from $4,000 to $10,000.

All of these costs are borne by the local government that's instituting the quiet zone. And liability for all grade-crossing accidents shifts from the railroad to the local govern ment when a quiet zone is put in place.

This makes cost a significant factor for cities hoping to establish quiet zones, depending on how much work is needed.

In Oceanside, Calif., the cost to silence horns has been estimated at $7 million to $9 million for five railroad crossings that will need additional drop-down gates, new sidewalks and special automatic swing gates for pedestrians.

In Burlington, Iowa, the cost to create 10 quiet zones ranges from $200,000 to $1 million or higher for each crossing, based on the measures city officials decide to implement at each crossing.

In some cases, communities can get funding assistance. For example, the Ohio Rail Development Commission administers a $15 million grade-crossing safety program for the Ohio Department of Transportation using Federal Highway Administration funds to upgrade crossings.

Grants or no, communities are increasingly deciding that quiet zones are money well spent.

Hank Williams and Jimmie Davis, dry those tears