Walnut Offers Process for Railroad Quiet Zone Complaints

A process for submitting complaints is in place for residents living in the railroad quiet zone bordering Walnut who still hear the horns blow.

The Department of Transportation has an email set up for complaints.

In April, the city celebrated the establishment of the quiet zone for the stretch of railroad crossings along Valley Boulevard.  Walnut had lobbied neighboring City of Industry for years to apply for the quiet zone designation and make the necessary changes to the crossings to qualify.

Walnut's neighbor was in charge of the project because the Union Pacific Railroad tracks are located on the City of Industry side of Valley.

A quiet zone is a railroad section where train crews are prohibited from blowing their horns.  However, there are exceptions to this rule.

According to the city's website, the engineer may sound the horn for the following reasons:

• The train crew is aware the crossing warning devices (lights, bells and gates) are malfunctioning.
  
• The warning devices are out-of-service for repair, testing or maintenance.
  
• Railroad or contract employees are working on or near the tracks.
  
• The train crew may sound a warning to animals, vehicle operators, pedestrians, trespassers, crews on other trains, or in the engineer’s sole judgment such action is appropriate in order to prevent imminent injury, death, or property damage.

• Date of Incident
  
• Time of Incident
  
• Direction of train travel (if known)
  
• Nature of complaint (i.e. excessive number of blasts, blasts too long, too loud)
  
• Your contact information