Trains sounding horns in quiet zones leaves residents of Colorado community frustrated
One Colorado community is facing frustration after long-standing silent zones near a railway were suspended.
Trains are sounding their horns in Douglas County along US-85 near Sedalia, Castle Pines and Castle Rock for the first time in over a decade. Residents are frustrated as it's happening during all hours of the day and night.
Signs line the area warning the community that trains passing through won't sound their horns. But one resident shared a video with CBS Colorado showcasing the sound of a train horn from inside their home. The noise is something residents in the neighborhood aren't used to.
"My initial thought was extreme disruption," said Ranee Wilson. "It's not a situation where they're just blowing once through a crossing. It can be up to eight times that you'll hear that horn in the middle of the night at 1:30 a.m."
The change came without warning, Wilson says.
A spokesperson for Douglas County told CBS Colorado:
"The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has temporarily suspended the Douglas County Quiet Zone after identifying several conditions requiring correction. Union Pacific and BNSF must therefore sound locomotive horns at all seven crossings between Atrium Drive/Promenade Parkway in Castle Rock and Manhart Street in Sedalia for the safety of motorists."
"If there was an issue, it should have been communicated to the residents and to the wider community, so that we had a chance to address what the concerns were, versus just lifting it with zero communication," said Wilson.
Wilson lives nearby, but her connection to the noise runs deeper. Her father, Don Somsky, helped to establish the quiet zone in the area over a decade ago.
"My dad really headed up the entire situation in 2009," said Wilson. "He worked to get a lot of residents involved, to get the county involved, and also our board within the village here."
"This is a picture of all of us who worked to get it done," said Somsky as he showed an article in the community newsletter from back in 2014. "It was starting to drive everybody crazy," he explained of the noise from the train horns.
Somsky, now 86, is hopeful it will all be resolved again soon.
"It better get quiet, that's all I can say," he said, smiling.
County officials say there's no timeline for when the issues with the railway will be resolved, meaning there's no timeline for when the area will return to a quiet zone.