SMART planning to sound train horns in Petaluma again over city’s objection

Officials at the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority said engineers will resume blowing horns in Petaluma on Tuesday, saying federal authorities nullified the city’s so-called quiet zone that is designed to dampen the noise.

City officials, however, disputed SMART’s interpretation.

“That would be news to Petaluma if true,” City Councilman Mike Healy stated by email Monday.

Petaluma became the first city in Sonoma and Marin counties to implement quiet zones governing train horns on April 19. SMART complied two days later, despite its objections that doing so presents risks to public safety.

The city and SMART have been at odds for weeks over the status of the horn restrictions, resulting in a flurry of back-and-forth legal briefs.

According to Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, a regional administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration notified the rail agency Monday that Petaluma’s quiet zone is “nullified” and that train engineers are to resume blowing the horn as required by federal law.

The safety director at the California Public Utilities Commission weighed in a week ago with a letter to the city expressing concerns for a “serious incident” should horns not sound while testing of trains and crossings is ongoing.

Every city and county jurisdiction in the two counties is at various stages of implementing such zones, amid a deluge of complaints about the noise.

SMART trains are being tested along the initial 43-mile line from north Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael, with passenger service currently timed to late spring.

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You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.