Quiet Zones On A-Line To Begin, RTD Says

DENVER, CO – The routine horn-blowing for commuter rail trains on the University of Colorado A-Line will be steeply curtailed starting March 1, Regional Transit District General Manager David Genova announced Friday.

Even though engineers will still blow the train horns for emergencies or if workers are on the tracks, the routine "long-long-short-long" crossing whistles will no longer sound at every intersection.

Mayor Michael Hancock said at a press conference on Friday at Union Station that the quiet zones have been begged for by residents and businesses along the 23-mile route.

"Horns have blared all hours of the day and night," Hancock said. Federal regulations have required the horns to blast at 96 decibels 21 hours per day until officials sign off on the appropriate safety measures such as flashing lights and gates are installed. Because RTD and private partners Denver Transit Partners have struggled to coordinate the timing of rail crossings to federal standards, the trains have sounded their horns for two years. The agency has also had to employ human crossing guards at the cost of millions of dollars.

The federal sign-off on the quiet zones "is huge," Hancock said. "It's huge for the appreciation and enjoyment of the A Line and for those visitors who have been sleeping in the hotels along the airport corridor and for those businesses trying to transact business within the corridor."

Guests at the DoubleTree Hotel on Quebec Street are issued ear plugs and white noise machines, according to the Denver Post.

The quiet zones will also be eventually extended into the long-awaited G-Line, RTD officials said.

Image via RTD

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