Title:
Title
Establish Capital Improvement Project and Budget for the City Railway Quiet Zones Program (T15215700)
End
FileID
File ID: 2020-00844
Location
Location: Various at-grade rail crossings, Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8
End
Recommendation:
Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution: 1) establishing the City Railway Quiet Zones Program (T15215700) as a new Capital Improvement Project; and 2) authorizing the City Manager or the City Manager's designee to transfer $99,991 (New Measure A Traffic Control & Safety Fund, Fund 2038) from available fund balance to the expenditure budget in the City Railway Quiet Zones Program (T15215700).
FileName
Contact: Elizabeth Weeks, Associate Civil Engineer (916) 808-2330; Judy Matsui-Drury, Supervising Engineer (916) 808-7610, Department of Public Works
Body
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Location Map
3-Resolution
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: On April 27, 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published the final Train Horn Rule. The rule went into effect on June 24, 2005. The final rule required that locomotive horns be sounded in advance of all public highway-rail crossings. The State of California, through the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), has supplemented the federal rule by additionally requiring locomotives to sound horns at private at-grade rail crossings as well.
The final rule also provided an opportunity for localities nationwide to silence train horns by establishing "new quiet zones." In a quiet zone, railroads have been directed to cease the routine sounding of horns when approaching public highway-rail grade crossings. Train horns may still be used in emergency situations or to comply with other Federal regulations or railroad operating rules.
Subsequently in 2005, the City Council established the Train Horn Quiet Zone Program, which implemented quiet zones on rail corridors within the City. To date, the City has established three qui...
Click here for full text