Petaluma advances quiet zone for SMART trains as testing continues

At a time when expanded testing of SMART trains is generating a storm of complaints about noise, Petaluma is implementing a so-called quiet zone, becoming the first city in Sonoma or Marin counties to restrict train engineers from sounding horns except in emergency situations.

Petaluma City Manager John Brown said the quiet zone, -spanningwhich will span all eight of the city’s rail crossings, -will go live on Wednesday, the day city employees will install signs at the crossings noting the designation.

“It’s ready to begin. The game plan is to go ahead,” Brown said this week.

The city is acting over the objections of SMART officials, who cite public safety concerns as the reason they want communities to hold off implementing quiet zones while testing of the trains is ongoing. The rail agency asserts it has authority to dictate when cities and counties can implement such zones, -a position at odds with federal railroad regulators who say Petaluma will have met the criteria by Wednesday.

It remains unclear whether SMART will abide by Petaluma’s new restrictions. An agency spokesman deferred that question to SMART’s general manager, Farhad Mansourian, who did not respond this week to requests for comment.

SMART did not endear itself to critics of the horns this week after expanding testing to hours when many people are in bed. The rail agency announced last week on its website and social media it was expanding the hours of train testing to 6 a.m. to midnight.

Many appear not to have received the message, judging by the outpouring of angry missives on SMART’s Facebook page. Several people reported hearing horns well before dawn and as late as 1 a.m. - beyond the hours the rail agency said testing would be conducted.

Sabina Grogan, who lives in a condominium within view of the Rohnert Park Expressway rail crossing, said she watched - a SMART train roll through the intersection at 1 a.m. Wednesday, its horn blaring along with alarms on the lowered gates.

“I am beyond tired of them,” Grogan, an executive assistant for a small corporation in Penngrove, said of the horns. “It’s getting ridiculous. I can’t take it anymore.”

SMART announced on social media that it was ending the extended testing Thursday, “ahead of schedule,” stating the extra hours had resulted in “excellent test results.”

The update stated the rail agency was on course to achieve a “major milestone” by the end of April, which is the certification of signal systems and positive train control.

A spokesman said the expanded testing has not altered the current timeline for starting passenger service by late spring, which could mean late June. Testing of trains will continue in the meantime, starting as early as 6 a.m. and lasting as late as 10 p.m.

That’s roughly an hour later than the last SMART trains ferrying passengers, according to the agency’s draft schedule.

Frustration over the sound of horns already is at a fever pitch, with every city and county entity in the two counties in various stages of implementing quiet zones of some type covering all public at-grade crossings along the entire ?43-mile rail line from north Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael.

Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, maintains testing must be completed before communities make such moves, a position he reiterated at last week’s bBoard of dDirectors meeting in Petaluma in response to a query from SMART director and San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips.

Mansourian said once SMART’s signal and positive train control systems are “good to go” the rail agency would give cities and counties the “go ahead” to proceed with quiet zones.

But Petaluma isn’t waiting. City officials gave notice to the Federal Railroad Administration that it would be implementing the quiet zone on April 19, which met the mandated 21-day notice to begin the noise restrictions. The city’s letter was the final step in a months-long process that included taking public comment.

The city received assurances from Federal Railroad Administration that it had met all the requirements for making the crossings ready, and that it could implement restrictions April 19 following the noticing period.

The signs to be installed at the crossings from Caulfield Lane in the south to Corona Road in the north state “No Train Horn” as a warning to motorists and pedestrians.

Federal regulations require train engineers to sound horns at least ?15 seconds in advance of all public rail crossings, as well as when entering and departing stations. Communities can establish quiet zones prohibiting the use of train horns except in limited circumstances, including when a vehicle, person or animal is on the track or when crossing gates are not functioning.

To qualify for quiet zone designations, additional safety measures must be in place at the crossings where the horns would no longer routinely sound.

The extra safeguards include four-quadrant gate systems, which provide full closure of the crossing as trains pass through, and curb medians to discourage motorists from attempting to drive around lowered gates.

With those improvements in place, federal railroad authorities consider crossings in quiet zones to be as safe, or safer, than crossings that feature standard safety measures and the routine sounding of horns.

In a March 23 letter to SMART, Brown, Petaluma’s city manager, wrote that no city officials “have expressed a willingness to sacrifice public safety for establishment of a quiet zone.” Brown inferred that such zones don’t heighten risks when properly implemented.

But Brown acknowledged in an interview this week that the city may be entering “unchartered waters” by proceeding with a quiet zone prior to completion of train testing.

“I’m not aware of any rail carrier that has decided to ignore a quiet zone, and what happens next,” Brown said. “We’re hopeful SMART will honor the designation.”You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.