Train noise in Wylie/Sachse (Dallas, Plano: homes, neighborhood, live)

[JS1]

For heaven's sake, what did you expect when you live in the countryside?

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by MurphyPl1

Just a heads up. It took the City of Murphy like 3 years to actually get the Quiet Zones implemented. Not thru lack of trying but because the RR is like the slowest entity on the planet to deal with. They move at their own pace and seem to be accountable to no one.

And they need to remember that train track was there a LONG TIME before any of those houses were even THOUGHT OF. The cities are not going to be quick to put "quiet zones" into place. These newbie's to the area need to understand that these trains were pressured to BLOW THOSE HORNS by the citizens demanding it after there was a rash of deaths due to people being hit crossing the tracks when the trains did not blow their horns and were not required to. The last thing the cities are going to want is to implement "quiet zones" and then somone get killed because they "didn't hear the train" and then get sued for it. Same goes for the railroad companies. They don't want to be sued because someone "tried to beat the train" or they "didn't hear the whistle". The person can prove that the trains once were required to do so by ordinances that were put into place that were demanded by the citizens.

If one is going to be disturbed by train noise then they shouldn't buy a house w/in 2 miles of a train track. Be glad that the trains come thru mostly during the night now. Years ago it was non stop all day and night. As I said before, they were LOOOOOONG trains and it would take the entire 20 minutes for one to clear an intersection. This was a common occurance during even rush hour. Imagine Hwy 78 now with all of the traffic and congestion if during rush hour a train that was 20 minutes long went thru. NO WAY! I'll take them at night. Oh, and several years ago we lived a good 5 miles away and on a clear night you could still hear the train off in the distance.

All I can say is buyers need to do their due diligence. If the train was there before you bought your house.......... you need to realize who was there first and WHY that train comes thru. It gives a LOT of jobs to this area. Sorry to sound rude to some but it is just a fact of life. You can't move to a house next to a freeway or train track and then get mad when it is actually used.

[TroubledByATrain]

I saw an article from FRA that we can require a quiet zone for residential areas. Please, see the site:
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3][url=http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/Content/1318]FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION : RAILROAD SAFETY[/url][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]I agree with PJSleepy and Loleo that is ridiculous to hear a train horn at almost 2 miles from the tracks. If I knew that I'd not buy a house in woodbridge. I moved here last summer and the train horn still boders me.[/SIZE][/FONT]
I'd be more than glad to join any effort/petition to the city of Sachse in order to make the city a quiet zone. There is a file of recent cities that applied to have a quiet zone and Plano and Richardson are in the list.
It looks like that it is not a privilege only for country side.

[MurphyPl1]

Have you actually contacted the City Manager, the Mayor or any City Councilmember to find out if they are already working to get a quiet zone? It is a very long process and the railroads seem to have the ultimate power (even over TxDOT).

Since Murphy has their quiet zone and I believe Wylie has theirs or is working on theirs, I suspect Sachse is doing the same.

But before you get all fired up and start a petition drive, perhaps you should begin with asking the people you pay to represent you.

And that list you posted are completed quiet zones. It took Murphy about 4 years to get their's finalized.

[TexasVines]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

That train track is a major freight line thru this area. It has been around for decades and will not be going anywhere anytime soon. As a matter of fact Collin County is trying to get a huge freight destination port in the area. As for the whistle itself....... on clearer nights you can hear it more. I live closer to it than you probably do and I don't notice it hardly at all. What happened is several years ago there was this sudden rash of people trying to beat the train as it did not have crossing arms at every single crossing. Of course this resulted in numerous fatalities (one was several children from an entire family which this one was kind of fishy to me). Anyway, they did not have to blow their horns at every crossing then. The residents of course practically marched onto the city councils in the area (Wylie, Sachse and Garland) and got them to implement a law that the trains had to start blowing their horns w/in so much distance of every crossing. Of course now just about every crossing has the arms on it so some cities have dropped the ordinance with the horns and created "quiet zones". As long as every crossing as the crossing arms then the cities are more apt to do this. If they don't then they will not. I'm not for certain if every crossing in Sachse as arms or not......hmmm, I just went over several of them today and I can't remember. I know the one at Murphy Rd & 78 does.

this can't be at all true

railroads are under the sole authority of the Federal Railroad Administration

the FRA requires trains to sound horns in a particular pattern at a particular distance.......there is nothing that any local or state government can do to require a train when to blow their horn for a crossing and no state or local government can unilaterally require or allow a railroad to not blow a horn as well

within the last few years the FRA has allowed local governments to petition for a quiet zone BUT

1. the railroad has to agree

2. the FRA and the railroad need to study the crossings

3. the crosings have to be upgraded

4. the crossings need to have directional horns installed

5. the local government needs to agree to be liable for ALL accidents that happen at those crossings in the future

other than that there is absolutely no authority that local or state governments have over railroads or their horns

[noiseconcerned]

Can someone please tell me about this train noise issue in Murphy area. I know Murphy is a small city so the noise coming from cities touching Murphy would play an equal role as well. Please guide me so I know before moving in the area what to expect at night in terms of noise. Thanks folks.

[MurphyPl1]

I responded on the other thread, but where you are looking at - the only issue might be the nearest crossing in Plano, but that's an occasional thing.

[nsumner]

Check out page 12. Wylie is adopting the "no whistle" or "quiet zone" soon. No date indicated but it says "soon"

http://www.wylietexas.gov/city_gover...ith_Speech.pdf

Naima

[momof2dfw]

Garland will be "silent" soon.

Train Horns to be silenced soon!
After a two-year journey championed by Salomon Tristan, the City of Garland is finishing the final improvement on railroad crossings in Garland. Then, the city will be declared a quiet zone to silence the horns that trains have been required to sound as they travel through Garland. For more info, see: Douglas Athas, City Council District 1

[PJSleepy]

So far, I've seen no formal press release, but it seems like the quiet zones may have already gone into effect (at least partially) in Wylie. I have not been woken up at night for awhile now, but I was afraid I may have just gotten used to it. However, I had company stay with me last week (who are not used to train whistles) and they didn't hear anything at night either! Not even on Saturday night when I used to get woken up every 2 hours. VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!!