The Federal Railroad Administration's Train Horn Rule (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised June 3, 2013 |
| Report Number |
RL33286 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
David Randall Peterman, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
Numerous communities across the United States imposed bans on the sounding of train whistles at highway-rail grade crossings beginning in the late 1970s to address complaints and concerns of nearby residents about noise from train whistles. In 1990, a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) study of train whistle bans in Florida showed a positive correlation between nighttime whistle bans and the number of accidents at highway-rail crossings. In 1994, partially in response to the FRA study, Congress enacted the Swift Rail Development Act (P.L. 103-440), which directed FRA to issue a regulation on the sounding of train horns at grade crossings.
Reducing the number of accidents and injuries at rail grade crossings has been a federal concern for decades. Accidents at highway-rail grade crossings are one of the leading causes of railroad-related deaths and injuries, accounting for nearly 40% of railroad-related deaths.
On June 24, 2005, FRA's Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings took effect. The rule requires that locomotive horns be sounded at all public highway-rail grade crossings, except where there is no significant risk to persons, where supplementary safety measures fully compensate for the absence of the warning provided by the horn, or where sounding the horn as a warning is not practical. FRA exempted the Chicago region from the rule, pending a re-analysis of grade-crossing accident data for that area. That exemption remains in effect.
The number of deaths from grade-crossing collisions has declined by around 30% since the train horn rule took effect. However, grade-crossing fatalities were already declining prior to adoption of the rule, and there has also been a significant decline in most other types of highway deaths since 2005. The impact of the rule on highway fatalities is thus unclear. In 2012, there were 271 grade-crossing fatalities.
The rule preempts all state and local laws dealing with bans on the sounding of locomotive horns at crossings ("whistle bans"), affecting roughly 2,000 bans in 260 localities. Communities may create "quiet zones" in which the sounding of locomotive horns is banned (except in an emergency); in some cases, these new quiet zones may not require any safety improvements by the community, but in other cases communities will have to provide safety improvements in order to establish a quiet zone. As of April 2013, FRA had received 549 notifications from communities that had established, or intended to establish, a quiet zone. Grade-crossing improvements to reduce the risk of accidents or to implement quiet zones are eligible expenses under several federal highway programs. Selection of projects for such funding is generally made by state highway administrations, subject to federal approval.
