2021_03-23_PWETCpacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

4. The rules have provisions for local communities to establish quiet zones, where railroads are exempt from blowing the locomotive horns. There are six types of quiet zones. Four of these quiet zone types provide for a transitional process for preexisting train horn bans. The City of Roseville does not meet these requirements. The two types of zones that the City meets are 1) a 24- hour quiet zone or 2) a partial nighttime quiet zone. The partial quiet zone would run from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The requirements for either a full-time or partial nighttime quiet zone are the same. The City can choose which type to establish. Communities that have chosen the part-time zone reasoned that risk associated with no train horns were greatly reduced at night because of the decreased traffic volumes. The FRA has incorporated flexibility in the process to create quiet zones, but has also made the process complex. The concept utilizes a risk index approach that estimates expected safety outcomes. Risk is averaged over the railroad crossings in the proposed zone and compared to a national risk level called the National Significant Risk Threshold (NSRT). This risk analysis computes a Risk Index With Horns (RIWH) and a Quiet Zone Risk Index (QZRI). This analysis determines what crossing improvements are needed for a community to establish a quiet zone. At a minimum, all new quiet zones must have railroad signals with gates. The FRA has provided an Internet site (www.fra.dot.gov) to allow for the calculation of the QZRI and RIWH and NSRT, and is commonly called the Quiet Zone Calculator. (The current NSRT is 13,811 and is adjusted yearly.) There are different ways that a community can institute a quiet zone, and are based on the risk index approach. Each method may require the community to apply for different types of quiet zones. • A community can install supplemental safety measures (SSM) at each crossing. This would allow for automatic approval from the FRA. • If SSMs are impractical at every crossing, a risk analysis is calculated and if the RIWH is less than the NSRT, or if the QZRI is less than the RIWH, a quiet zone can be instituted without additional safety measures. • If the risk index cannot meet the FRA standards, the City can propose an Alternative Safety Measure (ASM) that the FRA will evaluate on an individual case basis. There are five predetermined engineering improvements, called supplementary safety measures (SSM) that can be used to lower the QZRI and bring a crossing(s) into automatic conformance with the rules. The five SSMs include the following: 1. One -Way Streets with Full Gate Coverage — One-way streets allow for the gate(s) to be placed on the approach lanes of traffic, and vehicles cannot go around the gates. Vehicles also cannot get trapped between the gates.