My little wish for a 1 am curfew on flights out of SFO posted here, drew some off-topic comments about the Caltrain and Union Pacific freight train horns blasting through B'game. Here is a bit of background on how Sacramento cut a deal a long time ago to reduce their noise:
After years of silence, freight trains have begun sounding their horns through central Sacramento in recent weeks, often in the middle of the night, waking residents and upsetting officials who point out that Sacramento is a federally approved “no horn” zone.
City Councilman Steve Hansen said he has been getting constituent complaints and is discussing the issue with Union Pacific, but he acknowledged local officials “don’t have much leverage.” Freight railroads follow federal rules, including specific safety rules, and are not regulated by cities.
Sacramento city leaders worked out a deal with UP and the federal government years ago to have the city designated as a train-horn “quiet zone.” But UP officials said engineers are allowed to sound horns when needed, and are often required to under certain circumstances for safety purposes, even in quiet zones.
UP spokesman Justin Jacobs said the railroad has been doing track upgrade work around Sacramento lately. Engineers must sound horns when passing through areas where people are working on or near the tracks under federal rail-safety regulations.
So get psyched B'game. When electrification, high-speed rail, passing tracks and grade separations start, the Union Pacific trains will just lay on the horn from Brisbane to San Jose because it will all be one big construction zone.
They do that now.
Posted by: fred | February 09, 2017 at 10:18 AM