Shhh…

Not much going on this week and I’ve been pretty busy but this story about a “Quiet Zone” being implemented in Edison today reminded me of a reader discussion on the blog last year about noise and living near the train. Montclair is also moving toward establishing a “Quiet Zone,” which prohibits trains from using their whistles/horns in some cases.

A reader also inquired last summer about the city implementing a “Quiet Zone.” I’m not sure how the “Quiet Zone” would work for elevated tracks — or if it’d be any different — but Montclair and Edison both involve grade crossings. (Here’s a primer on “Quiet Zones” from the Federal Railroad Administration if anyone’s interested in some light reading before bedtime…) According to the Montclair story, NJ Transit estimates 70 trains pass through each weekday and federal regulations require four whistles before each roadway or railroad crossing.

The catch is that the municipality is on the hook for physical improvements and installation of signals and such. For Edison, that’s $1.5 million and estimated at $1 million Montclair.

What do you think? Would it be worth it? Hey, you new SkyView residents, do the train whistles bug you enough to drop seven figures on improvements? Discuss…

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0 thoughts on “Shhh…”

  1. Occasionally I’ve heard trains late at night blowing their horns as they pass through Rahway. I’ve also wondered as well what the need to do that for since the tracks are elevated. I’m not sure if they need to do that or what the reason is but it seems like something that shouldn’t be allowed.

  2. I live in Skyview facing the station up on the 11th floor. I don’t know if its just me but I barely hear any train horns (as long as my windows are closed). The building insulation does a decent job in keeping noise out.

  3. I can understand when they’re doing track work and there’s the continual horns as a train passes slowly through, but it’s the case of the psychotic engineer barreling through and you can hear them from a mile away and as they fly through which baffles me.

  4. We live on the woodbridge side of town, so I hear the train as it goes over the bridge on St. Georges. Don’t hear whistles as much as the clankity clank on the tracks. Doesn’t really bother me as I hear lots of background noises… Plane noise, on the other hand, is really annoying and shakes the house sometimes. Oh, and traffic helicopters? 5 hovered over vicinity of my house for 1 1/2 hrs the other day to “watch” a train snag at Metro Park- at 6a.m. Really obnoxious

  5. I heard Skyview windows were fairly soundproof so I am glad to hear that the residents there agree that they are. I can tell you the windows at River Place amazingly seem to amplify sound. I feel like the garbage trucks, street sweepers, train whistles and Nissan Pathfinder squeaky car are right in my bedroom at all hours of the day.

  6. According to the FRA, quiet zones only apply to grade level crossings. In another, “let’s punish all to protect the extreme morons in this country” rule, regulations call for trains to sound their whistle whenever there is anyone standing on the platform to serve as a warning regardless of time of night. I guess to protect that drunk guy sleeping on the tracks or people who balance on the edge of the platform with their back turned and can’t hear the rumble of multi-ton steel coming. Same reasoning why we have “Do Not Drink” labels on lemon scented dishwashing liquid and “Warning: Contains Hot Liquid” on coffee cups.

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