SOUTH BEND — The city has asked federal regulators for a“formal investigation” into why trains haven’t stopped blowing their horns at 11 east-side crossings, despite the recent re-establishment of quiet zones.
“Unfortunately, though the Quiet Zone was implemented on October 9, 2017, residents continue to report the sounding of routine train horns at its crossings,” Mayor Pete Buttigieg wrote in a letter dated Thursday to Tammy Wagner, a manager at the Federal Railroad Adminstration’s regional office in Chicago. “Your help in resolving this matter and restoring peace to our community is greatly appreciated.”
The letter includes a list of 13 times when city staff members heard the locomotive horns sound a “long, long, short, long” cadence, which they can routinely sound when approaching crossings, absent quiet zone designations.
There were eight such incidents heard on Oct. 10, one each on Oct. 14, 15 and 18, and two on Oct. 19. Those reports do not include complaints that residents have filed directly with the FRA.
The two railroads using the tracks that run through the city, Canadian National and Norfolk Southern, have told The Tribune that they had directed train crews to stop the routine soundings.
Buttigieg has called the situation “infuriating.” Residents for weeks have complained about the train horns keeping them up at night.
The so-called “quiet zone” designations at the railroad crossings existed for years but the FRA suddenly revoked them this summer, finding the city hadn’t implemented the required safety measures.