"Hornophobia"

Well, now that the powers that be have ruled out blowing whistles, they've increased the ringing of the crossing bells to include the period when the gates come down, all the while they're down, and while they go back up. If near a station stop, this can amount to several minutes. So now the horn critics are crying about the crossing bells instead. To read their comments, it's the end of life as we know it. The MBTA now is looking into replacing the old mechanical bells with some sort of electronic "bell" sound which can be adjusted to certain decibel settings. A figure of $1,800 per unit has been mentioned in the press.

And the beat goes on!

What?? WHAT??? Oh come ON!!!! The bells are NOT that loud!!! And does everyone in that area stay home all week? GEESH!!!

Just another case where the railroad is running "with it's tail between it's legs" and bending over backwards to satisfy the NIMBY's at whatever expense $$-wise, instead of just saying "Who was here first, you or the railroad?!?"

CSX Conductor wrote:Just another case where the railroad is running "with it's tail between it's legs" and bending over backwards to satisfy the NIMBY's at whatever expense $$-wise, instead of just saying "Who was here first, you or the railroad?!?"

As often happens when the railroad is a public agency, and a very political creature at that. I doubt you'd find many private freight railroads willing to go to such great lengths to pacify the neighbors.

oakpoint wrote:If horns were to be banned then maybe there is a way for head ends to project some form of powerful light - laser display in the trains path that would visibly illuminate a wide enough swath for anyone in the area to unmistakinly see.

It would have to be capable of projecting into an area about at least half a mile or more.

Brilliant. At the very least there should be huge spotlights on the crossing gates after dark: gate goes down, spotlight comes on shining right down at the cars in the corssing.

A police officer friend of mine always jokes about how if you shine a light at someone, they will instantly stop doing whatever bad thing they're doing or considering doing...

They should also have cameras there. Someone goes through the crossing with gates down, their plate number gets photoged and they get a nice ticket in the mail a few days later. There's a few traffic lights set up this way in here NYC and I'd imagine it cuts down on people running lights quite a bit.

Use the ticket revenue for education or something...

CSX Conductor wrote:Just another case where the railroad is running "with it's tail between it's legs" and bending over backwards to satisfy the NIMBY's at whatever expense $$-wise, instead of just saying "Who was here first, you or the railroad?!?"

Just so you know: in Massachusetts the jurisdiction lies with the state DTE (used to be the DPU). They control a lot of the issues at crossings, i.e. blowing whistles or not (at least until the FRA finally puts their regulations into effect), placement of gates and flashers, etc. etc. The railroad has very little control over the issues.

I remember when the Newburyport Extention was being put into service the DPU inspector standing in the middle of the street saying, "Move that lens. And I can't see that lens."

And because a lot of these towns are very old most of these streets were indeed there before the railroad was built.

I've said it before and I will say it again, things like landscapers with their lawnmowers and highly annoying leaf blowers are far louder than a train bell, and last far longer, I might add...

Oh well... none of us have any say in the matter, we can just vent...

JD

The streets indeed may have been there before the railroad, BUT, the whiners and complainers who live there now weren't! They moved there knowing full well that there was a railroad nearby and that they would be subject to all that goes with a railroad. Sorry, but I have no sympathy.

130MM wrote:

CSX Conductor wrote:Just another case where the railroad is running "with it's tail between it's legs" and bending over backwards to satisfy the NIMBY's at whatever expense $$-wise, instead of just saying "Who was here first, you or the railroad?!?"

Just so you know: in Massachusetts the jurisdiction lies with the state DTE (used to be the DPU). They control a lot of the issues at crossings, i.e. blowing whistles or not (at least until the FRA finally puts their regulations into effect), placement of gates and flashers, etc. etc. The railroad has very little control over the issues.

I remember when the Newburyport Extention was being put into service the DPU inspector standing in the middle of the street saying, "Move that lens. And I can't see that lens."

And because a lot of these towns are very old most of these streets were indeed there before the railroad was built.

I don't know enough about how the new FRA regs will effect all of this, but there's also the issue of intra-state versus inter-state railroads. I recall in the 1990's the state of Florida tried implementing a nighttime horn ban statewide. The only roads affected were the Florida East Coast and shortlines...CSXT, NS, and the BN all objected, saying tht since they were interstate carriers, the state of Florida had no jurisdiction over them. For several years, there were no horns on the FEC in Jacksonville (or elsewhere on the railroad) at night, but across town, CSXT used them 24 hours a day.

Eventually, though, I believe the Feds ordered Florida to remove the ban. Not sure how that was accomplished, but it only lasted a few years.

I'm assuming that there is a similiar answer to why on MBTA property there are so many horn bans, whereas the one place with grade crossings that the T runs on someone else's road (Framingham line) they do blow for crossings.