Residents Seek Accountability For Train Horns

Residents near rail crossings at High Street and Canal Street turned out to Tuesday's City Council meeting to let officials know how they felt about the new noise in their neighborhoods.

The city had its status as a railroad quiet zone abruptly revoked last Friday by the Federal Railroad Administration after about a year of being non-compliant with federal regulations. A federal law effective in 2005 requires either locomotives blow their horn anytime they go through a vehicle intersection, or the municipality use a suitable safety alternative by June 2010.

Scott Holley, an Irving Street resident, said he felt city hall dropped the ball in handling the quiet zone. He has called city officals, congressmen, rail officials and transit officials, and is yet to find someone responsible for the loss of the quiet zone privilege, he said.

“What the neighbors are here demanding is some accountability,” Holley said.

Playstead Road resident Ron Crotty said his family members were having trouble sleeping at night.

"Whoever dropped the ball – Shame on them,” he said.

City Engineer Cassandra Koutalidis summed up the noise to a miscommunication. City officials walked away from a meeting with representatives from the Federal Railroad Administration and Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail thinking they would have two weeks to get into compliance. But the FRA ordered the T to have trains sound horns two days later, she said.

The city is coming up with a plan to remedy the situation, but it will take time for things to process through the FRA, Koutalidis said.

"We still have to file the paperwork, there is a process we need to go through," she said.

Councilors criticized the city's administration for not taking care of the issue sooner. The federal rule, approved in 2003 and finalized in 2005, gave communities with pre-exisiting quiet zone agreements until 2010 to comply with the new regulations by implementing one or a combination of several different safety alternatives.

But City Councilor Michael Marks said he heard first heard of it when complaints began to come in from residents Friday.

“I’m very disappointed we’re hearing this at the last minute, the last hour, looking for a stay of execution,” Marks said.

The council unanimously passed a resolution submitted by Councilor Paul Camuso to remedy the problem, and ask Congressmen Ed Markey and Michael Capuano to help expedite it. Capuano sits on the house's transportation committee.

Camuso, who used to live in West Medford, said the occassional horn sounding for good reason -  like a person, vehicle or animal on the tracks - was tolerable. But commuter trains often come through every 20 minutes.

"To have to listen to it this many times a day, especially during rush hour, it’s absolutely absurd," Camuso said.

Plastic barriers could be installed as quickly as within a week, and Mayor Michael McGlynn was hoping to get the train horns stopped before then, he said in a phone interview yesterday.

Read more about the train horns .