FREEPORT – With the Amtrak Downeaster going through Freeport for about a month, the Freeport Town Council again is going to discuss the subject of quiet zones in town.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Freeport Town Hall, the council is set to listen to public feedback about the possibility of establishing quiet zones at the railroad crossings in town.
Freeport Town Manager Peter Joseph said the council decided in October that it wanted to wait a month after Amtrak service started running through town to allow people to get acclimated to the noise of the train before continuing the discussion of quiet zones and getting public feedback on the issue.
The Federal Railroad Administration instituted a rule in 2005 requiring all trains to sound their whistles when approaching railroad crossings. But the agency also allowed for the establishment of quiet zones, where the trains would be prohibited from sounding their horns, provided the crossing had the proper safety measures installed to prevent collisions between cars and trains.
The Downeaster makes three round trips through Freeport on a daily basis and freight trains use the rail line through town on an irregular basis. If the council elects to put quiet zones in place in Freeport, both the freight and passenger trains would be subject to the quiet zones, which would block trains from blowing their whistles when approaching intersections in town. The eight crossings in question are at West, Bow, East and School streets, and Webster, Hunter, Upper Mast Landing and Fernald roads.
A business close to the tracks already says the noise made by the trains has been noticeable.
Joshua Cushing, the general manager of the Freeport Hilton Garden Inn, which sits just feet from the tracks, has spoken in favor of the establishment of quiet zones in the past and continues to support them.
“We definitely hear the train because we sit so close to the tracks,” Cushing said, adding that the hotel has received complaints from guests due to the noise of the trains. “It hasn’t been horrible, but it has been enough that we still support quiet zones.”
Even if the council does approve the quiet zones, the town would have to upgrade the crossings to meet federal regulations, which could lead to some serious costs.
Two options have been under consideration for the quiet zones. One is a so-called “quad gate,” where the intersection has four gates blocking the crossing instead of two, which would prevent any traffic from getting on the tracks while the train passes. The downside of this measure is the cost – about $100,000 per intersection – that the town would have to pay.
A second option, called channelization, would involve installing soft barriers in the middle of the road approaching the crossing, blocking traffic from going into the other lane in an attempt to skirt the barrier blocking the crossing. The cost for this option would be about $15,000.
At the meeting on Dec. 18, Joseph said, councilors are “hoping to at least come up with a plan on how they are going to move forward.” Joseph added that he wasn’t sure if the council was going to be prepared to take a vote on the establishment of quiet zones at the meeting, or if it would require more time to study the issue.
The Amtrak Downeaster has been coming through Freeport for about a month. On Dec. 18, the Freeport Town Council will resume the discussion of the potential establishment of quiet zones in town, which would prevent the trains from blowing their whistles at crossings. Send questions/comments to the editors.
