Rail Safety & Quiet Zones

Rail Safety Overview

 

OCTA’s Board of Directors approved a $60-million program to enhance rail safety throughout Orange County. This program is the first comprehensive effort to enhance grade crossing and establish quiet zones. These enhancements will benefit thousands of community members who live near the 53 rail-highway crossings in Orange County.

 

Countywide improvements will feature pedestrian safety enhancements at all grade crossings and include supplemental safety measures to reduce noise from locomotive horns in quiet zones.

 

Features that will enhance safety and silence horns are:

• Upgraded and updated warning devices including flashers and bells
• Additional gate arms to prevent pedestrians from crossing the tracks when the gates are lowered for a train to pass
• Extended raised medians to deter motorists from driving around lowered crossing gates
• Improved signage
• Coordinated local traffic signals

 

Staying Safe On or Near the Tracks

 

• Look Both Ways
  Always expect a train when you approach a grade crossing. Trains can run on any track at any time, in either direction. After a train passes, look both ways before proceeding.

   

• If You See A Train Coming, Wait
  Don’t be tempted to try to beat a train. An approaching train may be closer and traveling faster than it appears.

   

• Trains Cannot Stop Quickly
  The average freight train traveling 55 miles per hour takes a mile or more to stop – that’s 18 football fields. If the locomotive engineer can see you, it’s too late to stop the train.

   

• Don’t Get Stuck On The Track
  Before your cross the train tracks, be sure there is room on the other side to completely clear the tracks. Trains overhang the tracks by at least three feet on each side. For safety, leave at least 15 feet between the rear of your vehicle and the nearest rail. Do no shift gears while crossing.

   

• Get Out! Get Away!
  If your vehicle stalls at a crossing, get everyone out and far away immediately, even if you do not see a train. Call the emergency notification number posted on or near the crossing or notify local law enforcement.

   

• Watch for Vehicles That Must Stop At Railroad Crossings
  School buses, commercial buses and trucks carrying hazardous materials must stop at every highway-rail grade crossing.

           

For more safety tips, please visit www.operationlifesaver.com or call 1 (800) 537-6224..

 

Funding

 

Orange County’s Renewed Measure M will fund 88 percent of the rail-safety program with remaining 12 percent by local participating cities.

 

Timeline

 

Improvements to grade crossings are expected to be completed within three years. Upon completion, cities will have the opportunity to apply for federal quiet zone status.

 

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Quiet Zones Overview

 

A quiet zone is a railroad grade crossing at which trains are prohibited from sounding their horns in order to decrease noise levels for nearby residences. The train horns can be silenced only when other safety measures compensate for the absence of the horns.

 

In 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings. The final rule requires locomotive horns be sounded as a warning to highway and street users at public highway-rail crossings. The final rule provides an opportunity for thousands of communities nationwide to mitigate the impacts of train horn noise by establishing new quiet zones.

 

Placentia Quiet Zone

 

The first quiet zone in Orange County was establised in August 2007 between Kellogg and Kraemer avenues along the tracks parallel to Orangethorpe Avenue in Placentia. The cities of Placentia and Anaheim worked dilligently since April 2001 to accomplish their goal of silencing train horns for nearby residents.

All trains are prohibited from sounding their horns unless an emergency stems from pedestrians or vehicles on or near the train tracks. Since the implementation of the Placentia quiet zone, train horns have significantly decreased.

 

How To Report A Train Violation

 

To report a train horn violation, please identify the crossing, engine number, day and time and length of horn sound, if possible. These reports can be e-mailed to the city of Placentia at www.placentia.org, or you may call  (714) 993-8117. The complaint will be kept on file with the city and forwarded to the appropriate railroad and the Federal Railroad Administration with a request to take action.