Union Pacific Railroad Reduces Noise in DeKalb, Illinois

The Union Pacific Railroad has recently installed a system to reduce train horn noise in DeKalb, Illinois.

Trains will no longer sound their horns when moving through town. Instead, the train activates a speaker at the railroad crossing, which broadcasts the warning. This considerably reduces the noise. Trains normally sound their horns well before the crossing, creating noise in areas that need no warning.

As one resident says, "I used to live a hundred feet from the tracks. For about a year I stuck out the noise, but after that, I used to cringe and plug my ears when they went by. It was really loud." Another resident says that she noticed, about a week ago, that the sound had changed, that it was softer and sounded like it came from a speaker. She lives two blocks from a crossing. "The late night blaring of the horn has diminished considerably," she says.

While citizens seem happy with the decrease in noise, other train related problems remain.

The frequency of trains is unlikely to diminish. Citizens of DeKalb are used to the high volume of train traffic through town. "It seems like one comes through every twenty minutes," says one resident. "If I have to go somewhere in DeKalb that is across the tracks, I try to get across first thing on my list; otherwise, I get stuck waiting." There are three ways to avoid crossing the tracks, the Peace Road overpass, at the far east end of town; the Annie Glidden Road underpass, at the far west end of town; and the Pearl Street underpass, located just west of the old, Downtown area. Those are not convenient options for anyone trying to cross in the Downtown area.

In addition to frequency, occasionally a train stops in the middle of town, blocking all of the crossings, from First Street to Tenth Street. They don't generally stop for long, but when they do, car traffic gets considerably clogged up.

A local merchant notes that sometimes the crossing gates get stuck in the down position. People in cars wait for a time, but then start impatiently driving around the gates, a very dangerous thing to do.

And, tragically, as long time residents of DeKalb know, once every few years a pedestrian is killed by a train. It is never advisable to cross the tracks when the gates are down. Pedestrians often wait for the train to pass, unaware that another train is approaching on the other, parallel set of tracks.