Railroad Quiet Zones

1. Railroad Quiet Zones City of Lincoln, Successes and Challenges 2008 Mid-States Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Conference May 20, 2008

3. Railroad Quiet Zones • What is a Quiet Zone? • A section of a rail line that contains one or more consecutive public crossings at which locomotive horns are not routinely sounded. • Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings; Final Rule • Effective June 2005 • Amended August 2006 • Requires horns to be sounded at public crossings • Provides exceptions where risk is minimized • Enables communities to establish quiet zones by mitigating the silencing of horns

4. Establishment of a Quiet Zone • Public Authority Designation • Does not require application to and approval by FRA • Implement Supplementary Safety Measures (SSMs) at each public crossing • Public Authority Application • If Quiet Zone does not meet the standards for public authority designation • Requires application to and approval by FRA • Proposed Quiet Zone may include only Alternative Safety Measures (ASMs) or a combination of ASMs and SSMs • Requires calculation of Quiet Zone Risk Index (QZRI) • > Nationwide Significant Risk Index (NSRI) • > Risk Index with Horns (RIWH)

5. Quiet Zone Requirements • Minimum Length – ½ mile along the Railroad right of way • Active grade crossing warning devices • Crossing gate arms • Flashing lights • Bells • Constant warning circuitry • Power out indicators • Advance warning signs for Quiet Zone

6. Quiet Zone Requirements • Supplementary Safety Measures (SSM) • Temporary closures (nighttime) • Permanent closures

7. Quiet Zone Requirements • Supplementary Safety Measures (SSM) • Conversion to one-way streets with gates

8. Quiet Zone Requirements • Supplementary Safety Measures (SSM) • Four-quadrant gates

9. Quiet Zone Requirements • Supplementary Safety Measures (SSM) • Raised medians or channelization devices • Extend 100’ from gate arm, 60’ minimum length if intersecting street is present

10. Wayside Horn • Use of Wayside Horns • Authorized at any crossing with flashing lights and gates • Recognized as a 1:1 substitute for the train horn • Quieter but not totally quiet • System provides FRA approved sound level directed at vehicles

11. Wayside Horn • Considered when: • Closure is not feasible • Not enough distance to implement raised medians • One-way street is not a viable alternative • Cost of 4 quadrant gates is prohibitive • Affordable for the community

12. Wayside Horn

13. Typical Improvement Costs

14. Alternative Safety Measures • Modified Supplementary Safety Measures • Not fully compliant with all of the SSM requirements • Provide an estimate of effectiveness or actual field data • Calculate Quiet Zone Risk Index • Requires review and approval from FRA

15. Alternative Safety Measures • Non-Engineering ASMs • Programmed enforcement • Public education and awareness • Photo enforcement

16. Quiet Zone Evaluation • Field review of existing crossings within the proposed Quiet Zone corridor • Identify grade crossing warning devices & circuitry • Determine average daily traffic and train counts • Compile collision data • Conduct a Diagnostic Review • Only required for Quiet Zones with private or pedestrian crossings, but should be held for all Quiet Zones

17. Quiet Zone Evaluation • Determine the appropriate Quiet Zone treatments for each grade crossing • Develop conceptual drawings and cost estimates • Create report summarizing the study findings • Treat Every Crossing with approved safety measures • Active Warning & Circuitry Upgrades • Significantly increases the cost of implementation

18. Key Quiet Zone Issues • Process required to establish a Quiet Zone • Notice of Intent (60 days for comments) • Notice of Establishment (21 days notice) • Liability Issues • Use of wayside horn requires railroad agreement and could potentially add liability insurance from municipality.

19. Lincoln Quiet Zones

20. Lincoln Quiet Zones

21. Lincoln Quiet Zones City of Lincoln Capitol City of Nebraska Population- 250,000 Travel- 4,450,000 Vehicle Miles/Day Main Railroad- BNSF 80 Trains/ Day

22. Lincoln Quiet Zones How Are Lincoln Quiet Zones to be Established? • Offset silencing of Train Horns with either: • Supplementary Safety Measures (SSMs) or • Wayside Horns • Diagnostic Team Review City (County) Public Works Officials (Road), Railroad, State DOT, and Federal Railroad Administration

23. North BNSF Railroad Quiet Zone ¼ Mile ¼ Mile

24. Improvement Costs North BNSF Quiet Zone

25. South BNSF Railroad Quiet Zones

26. Improvement Costs South BNSF Quiet Zone

27. Improvement Costs South BNSF Quiet Zone Continued

28. Saltillo Road – Recommendation

29. South 14th Street - Recommendation

30. Old Cheney Road – Recommendation

31. ‘D’ Street – Recommendation 80 vehicles per day 160 vehicles per day

32. ‘J’ Street at 3rd Street – Recommendation 380 vehicles per day

33. 2nd Street at ‘J’ Street – Recommendation

34. 1st Street at ‘J’ Street- Recommendation

35. Funding Options • Funding Sources • No state or federal funds are available for creation of quiet zones • Railroads typically will not participate unless crossings are closed • Local Funding options • Street improvement funds • Local sales tax • Downtown Improvement District • Private developers • Railroad Transportation Safety District (RTSD)

36. Lincoln/Lancaster County Railroad Transportation Safety District (RTSD) • Background • Any County with a Primary or First Class City (Pop. 5,000) • Formed by Resolution of City Council(s) and County Commissioners • RTSD Board of Directors - 3 Council Members/Each City > 5000 3 County Commissioners

37. Lincoln/LancasterCounty RTSD RTSD Authority • Must Comply with Regulations of other Government Agencies • Must Examine Costs and Benefits • May Levy Property Tax (County Board) to Maximum $.026/ $100 • May Borrow Money and May Issue General Obligation Bonds • Raises $4,500,000 per Year in Lancaster County $150,000 Home

38. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD RTSD Authority • May Purchase Railroad Rights-of-Way/Improvements • May Acquire Land (Purchase or Eminent Domain) for Railroad Purposes • May Receive Title of Property • May Enter into Contracts and Agreements • May Bond for Railroad Related Projects

39. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD Eligible Counties/Cities in Nebraska - 28 Counties/ 32 Cities

40. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD January 10, 1968, Lincoln Evening Journal

41. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD Full-Dress Funeral Slated for Firefighter Fire Chief Mike Merwick said Thursday that the department plans a full-dress ceremony for the funeral Saturday of the Firefighter who was killed Wednesday when the engine he was driving was struck by a Missouri Pacific train. APR 3 1981 Car-Train Accidents Haunting to Helpless Crew Members, too A 20-year veteran conductor for the Burlington Northern Railroad said his nightmare about a Nebraska car-train accident that killed a teenager doesn’t reoccur as often these days. MON SEP 25 1989 Car-Train Crash Kills 3 Hickman Teens Three Hickman teenagers were killed about 7 a.m. Friday when their car collided with a Burlington Northern freight train at the fog-shrouded 68th Street crossing on the south edge of Hickman. FRI MAY 30 1986 Pickup-Train Crash Starts 1990 Road Toll Nebraska’s first reported traffic fatality of the new year occurred Monday morning in Lincoln when a 23-year old Lincoln man died of injuries suffered in the collision of a pickup and a switch engine near 17th and Holdrege. MON JAN 01 1990 Lincoln Couple Dies in Car-Train Crash Their fresh start ends in tragedy. Captain Douglas Ahlberg said their car were going north on 33rd Street at 6:15 a.m. when the driver apparently drove around the railroad crossing and into the path of the train… WED MAR 20 1985 RR Crossing Accidents Total is 202 Tom Ryan, director of the State Accidents Records Bureau, said Monday there were 202 motor vehicle train accidents in Nebraska in1972… He said in the statewide accidents, 101 persons were injured, 33 were killed and 25 were uninjured. TUE MAY 08 1973 Lincoln Couple Killed in Car-Train Mishap A Lincoln couple was killed late Sunday night when the car in which they were riding collided with a Burlington freight train near 44th and Cornhusker Highway.... There have been 52 car-train fatalities in Lancaster County in the past 14years, with 20 fatalities in Lincoln since 1952. SEP 11 1967 Mishap Kills Coed Six Hurt at Rail Crossing A car-train accident shortly after midnight on West O between Sun Valley Blvd. and Bell claimed the life of an 18-year old university of Nebraska coed and injured six of her schoolmates. OCT 18 1968

42. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD Summary/RTSD Benefits • Crossing Exposure Reduced • Number of At-Grade Railroad Crossings reduced in Lincoln Area from 210 in 1970 to 83 in 2007. • Railroad Collisions Property Damage Collisions 115 32 24 Time Period 1952 - 1967 (16 years)* 1982 - 1997 (16 years)** 1996 - 2007 (12 years)** Deaths 55 6 1 Injuries 57 21 17 * Lincoln Journal - January 10, 1968. ** Nebraska Department of Roads Standard Summary of Nebraska Motor Vehicle Traffic Accidents

43. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD Railroads Entering Lincoln Area - 1975 Burlington Northern (BNRR) Union Pacific (UPRR) Missouri Pacific (MO PAC RR) Chicago Rock Island & Pacific (CRI & PRR) Chicago & Northwestern (C & NWRR)

44. Lincoln/Lancaster County RTSD

45. Implementation Schedule • Required Notifications • Notice of Intent to create a quiet zone – 60 day review • Notice of Quiet Zone Establishment – 21 day notice • Schedule • No railroad improvements (crossing or circuitry) • As soon as roadway improvements are in place and • Notifications have been submitted • One crossing with railroad improvements • Railroad Agreements – 6 months • Modifications to railroad crossing equipment – 2 months • Effective Quiet Zones • 10 Miles East-West (NW 91st to No. 84th Street) • 8 Miles North-South (Roca Road to “J” Street)

46. Questions?

47. Questions?

48. Railroad Quiet Zones City of Lincoln, Successes and Challenges 2008 Mid-States Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Conference May 20, 2008

49. Questions?