Railway Quiet Zone reinstatement coming soon

Matt Hemmert | Lehi Free Press

Locomotive horns blaring at at-grade crossings will come to an end soon as efforts continue to fix one final crossing. It can’t come soon enough for Lehi residents living near the designated Quiet Zone. 

In early October, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated that all locomotives blow horns while passing through at-grade crossings from Salt Lake City to Provo. Lehi City Traffic Engineer Luke Seegmiller quickly coordinated all affected cities’ efforts to comply with the FRA inspection report and remediation demands. All at-grade crossings must comply with FRA guidelines before reinstating the Quiet Zone.

The last crossing on the FRA’s list is in Salt Lake City and presents some unique challenges. The issue is that an office building’s parking lot driveway is too close to the railway crossing and must be moved. 

While it might seem a simple fix, it is more complicated because Salt Lake City has to deal with vested property rights to find an economically feasible solution that doesn’t unreasonably disrupt the office building’s operation. However, the city and the property owner are working as quickly as possible because of the significant impact on individuals in the cities along the railway corridor. 

Speaking exclusively with the Lehi Free Press, Seegmiller explained that the FRA inspector has already examined and accepted most of the work done in the Quiet Zone since early October. Once the Salt Lake City crossing is fixed, only a handful of crossings will need a final inspection, which Seegmiller anticipates should only take one or two days. 

After the FRA inspector signs off on the entire Quiet Zone, Seegmiller will send compliance paperwork to the FRA and expects the Quiet Zone to be reinstated. “It will take a few days for the train operators to update their systems, but then the horns will be off,” Seegmiller said. 

While the process has been frustrating for the public, there have been some benefits at the municipal level. “[The local FRA inspector] has helped navigate what is needed for [Quiet Zone] reinstatement. He’s also made suggestions about what the cities can do to mitigate against the Quiet Zone ever being suspended again,” Seegmiller added. 

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Seegmiller explained that additional safety measures can be added at some crossings to reduce the overall risk index ascribed to the entire Quiet Zone. “We and other cities plan to add [these additional safety measures] at other crossings,” he said. “This will make it so a deficiency at a crossing in the future will not put us at risk of having the Quiet Zone suspended.”