There is something about hearing and seeing the lights and gates, the bells and the horn, but what if one of those elements is missing? You do see alot of places where there are no lights and gates but what about no train horn? Communities across the nation are starting to apply for quiet zones: Certain crossings where trains are not allowed to blow their horn unless it is an emergency. There has to be certain safeguards in place for a quiet zone to happen. One of the safeguards is the gates, they must reach across ALL lanes of traffic. There are a few others but I forget them off the top of my head. In Springfield, Ohio they have a “horn”, a recording of a train horn that is focused down at the street instead of filtering throughout the open space.
I think this is ridiculous. Even thought there are gates going across trust me some day somehow someone will find a way to go around the gates. I think the kicker is that in most cases the railroad themselves have to pay a very good portion of that. To me that would be like my neighbor buying a tree for his yard and making me pay for it because I can see if from my house. I know it is not a perfect analogy but you get my point. If you buy a house near a train track you should know there will be noise. GROW UP!!!!!! I would LOVE to see a railroad company tell a city that if the city wants a quiet zone they will get a quiet zone because the railroad is going to build a new route by passing the city completely and stop serving the industries in the city as well.
Ok people its your turn to share your views!
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!