Downtown Raleigh neighbors sound alarm on constant train horns; city looking into 'quiet zone'

Would you want to hear that sound in your home a dozen or more times a day from early in the morning to late at night?

That's what it's like for thousands of people who live in downtown Raleigh. The city is taking a look at silencing train horns.

J.C. Warren has lived in a condo overlooking the convergence of two railroad tracks for the last 15 years.

"Once they start blowing down there, they don’t stop until they’re just past the intersection here," Warren said. "When the trains come by, you don’t hear the trains. You hear the horns."

He can almost keep time by the blaring of the train horns.

"There’s one that comes through every night about 11," Warren said. "The one at 6 o’clock in the morning, he loves his horn. And he lays on that thing."

Warren and a growing number of his neighbors are calling on the city to silence train horns as they roll through downtown Raleigh.

"It has a big impact on a lot of people and businesses," Warren said.

The city did a quiet zone study back in 2012. It said it would cost as much as $3.6 million to make it safe enough to silence the train horns.

Some of those upgrades include new gates at crossings. Some crossings only have one gate on each side.

The city would need to add one on each side to make that quiet zone happen.

City councilor Jane Harrison requested a new quiet zone study since more people are living downtown and passenger rail service is expanding.

"I have received numerous requests from downtown residents to implement a quiet zone just so folks can sleep at night," Harrison said. "I’ve even heard of people moving out of downtown because of the train noise."

Just last year, the state got a billion dollars for the S-Line, which will connect Raleigh to Richmond with high-speed passenger trains.

That project will require safety upgrades to downtown railroad crossings.

"Safety comes first," Harrison said. "We can’t forget about that. But if there are other ways to ensure that safety element without blowing horns all night long, hopefully we can move in that direction."

Silencing the trains is music to Warren's ears.

"Sometimes you feel like your ears are bleeding, it’s so loud," Warren said.

City council recently approved $600,000 of American Rescue Plan funding for the new study.

A quiet zone would require approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.