The Sun Sentinel: Residents sounding off over loud new train horns

The Florida East Coast Railway has fielded up to 20 complaints a week about louder train horns since it introduced 24 new General Electric locomotives in December.

 

FEC expects results from train horn noise tests in two weeks.

 

The Florida East Coast Railway has fielded up to 20 complaints a week about louder train horns

Think those train horns have gotten louder recently? It’s not your imagination if you live along the coastal tracks that parallel U.S. 1 from Miami to Jacksonville.

 

The Florida East Coast Railway has fielded up to 20 complaints a week about louder train horns since it introduced 24 new General Electric locomotives in December.

 

Initial testing showed the sound of the horns actually was a little lower than the old locomotives. But company officials ordered more in-depth tests with an acoustic expert.

 

“We’ve had too many complaints not to look to try to figure out what may be causing the problem. Is it the volume or is it the pitch?” said Robert Ledoux, vice president of the FEC.

 

The company hopes to know in two weeks whether the noise is indeed a problem and what, if anything, can be done.

 

Sometimes weather can play a factor, with train horns more noticeable in the winter when people turn off air conditioners and leave windows open. The sound also can be affected if trees near the tracks are cut down or lose their leaves.

 

Noise from horns has always been an issue for those along the FEC’s tracks, which pass through downtowns and neighborhoods up the coast. It can rouse people awake and make it difficult to watch TV or hold a conversation outside.

 

“In recent months, everyone in our neighborhood and areas east and west have noticed that the FEC train horns have become louder and longer,” said Fritz Kramer, who lives in Fort Lauderdale’s south side.

 

The FEC runs about 14 long-distance freight trains a day between Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville. There are also additional local trains that stop in South Florida, but they don’t use the newer locomotives that have been the source of the recent noise complaints.

 

Horns could become a bigger problem in late 2016, when All Aboard Florida plans to run 32 passenger trains a day – 16 in each direction – on the same tracks.

 

However, the Coral Gables-based company is spending $60 million to upgrade crossings with safety features, making them eligible to become quiet zones with horns silenced. The plan is to have the quiet zones in place before service starts.

 

However, that doesn’t offer much comfort to residents putting up with train noise now.

 

By federal law, trains are required to sound their horns before each crossing with two long blasts followed by a short blast and a long blast, no matter the time of day. There are more than 150 crossings between Miami and West Palm Beach.

 

Horns must be sounded at least 15 seconds and no more than 20 seconds in advance of the crossing. The law does not stipulate the length of the blasts.

 

The maximum volume level is 110 decibels, set in 2005. The minimum level is 96 decibels.

 

The Federal Railroad Administration said it has received a number of complaints about the increased noise and “takes these complaints very seriously,” said spokesman Michael Cole.

 

mturnbell@tribpub.com, 954-356-4155, Twitter @MikeTurnpike, Facebook at SunSentinel.com/concreteideas

 

Sound off about the train horns

 

To report a problem with the horns, you can fill out a report at sunsentinel.com/trainhorns. Make a note of which tracks that are the source of the problem – either the Florida East Coast Railway, which runs along U.S. 1 and Dixie Highway, or the CSX tracks, which carry Tri-Rail and Amtrak and run mostly west of Interstate 95. Also note if the horn is from a freight train or a passenger train, the time and date of the problem and which direction the train was traveling if possible.