NIMBYs are at it again, wants WMATA to stop honking

https://www.arlnow.com/2018/04/06/honki ... long-i-66/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

YOLO wrote:https://www.arlnow.com/2018/04/06/honki ... long-i-66/

There could be whistle or horn boards (temporary or permanent) in place that require the operator to sound the horn whether or not workers are present. But really, after all she lives next to I-66 AND the Metro. Buyer beware.

The most recent Roadway Worker Protection protocol requires operators to honk their horns and operate at half the typical speed in areas where workers are on the tracks, which matches up with the complaint timeline.

“Dear Colonel Lee,
Your horses whinny quite noisily. Would you be a dear and see to it that this problem ceases?”

“Great Chief Powhatan,
Your canoe paddles make so much noise all day and night. This needs to end!”

Not that WMATA does a great job of informing patrons and neighbors of what is happening on the railroad, but I’m not impressed by that resident.

Would it be worth 30 minutes of a WMATA lawyers time to send a polite note to the complaining neighbor about FRA regs requiring use of the horn in work areas?

STrRedWolf wrote:Would it be worth 30 minutes of a WMATA lawyers time to send a polite note to the complaining neighbor about FRA regs requiring use of the horn in work areas?

If it’s a polite note, sure. If it’s less than polite, as an Arlington resident she is either a lawyer or related to one, so WMATA would hear back with a nastygram. Also, it’s FTA jurisdiction, not FRA - I don’t know whether there are similar binding regs.

After peeling through the tweets, Rail Transit Ops answered her question back in early March.

The tracks need to be inspected twice a week, each track. That means at least four days that track workers are inspecting that area, not including the monthly switch inspections at EFC. It's a 2 3/8 mile walk from EFC to Ballston. Add wait times for passing trains and waiting for foul time to cross the portal and that walk can take a couple hours, with trains blowing their horns during that time. This to some people can seem like all day.

To note, the FTA is WMATA's safety oversight, but Metro's rules and regulations are still produced and implemented internally. The FTA doesn't have a set of regulations that WMATA is required to follow. They make recommendations and have the power to force compliance if need be.

Unsurprising that the complainant is ignoring the complete answer, pretending they got no answer, and the media is blindly running it as if it is news.

MCL1981 wrote:Unsurprising that the complainant is ignoring the complete answer, pretending they got no answer, and the media is blindly running it as if it is news.

The media being blind, as well as deaf and dumb, are not surprising.

And the train operators have to blow their whistle when crossing a tunnel portal regardless