Last week, the city of San Diego announced that it completed work needed to restore its temporarily suspended "quiet zone" designation, which has resulted in loud train horns disrupting residents downtown for more than a week, and on Monday, officials confirmed the city had regained federal approval.
The city said Monday in a news release that the Federal Railroad Association (FRA), which lifted the city's quiet zone Jan. 19 because of safety concerns, confirmed that the work performed at the 12 downtown intersections had brought the city back into compliance. Transit agencies have seven days to comply with the reinstatement of the quiet zones, officials said.
Downtown residents will be glad to NOT hear trains sounding their horns when approaching crossings. NBC 7's tip line blew up with complaints about the noise from those who live near the train tracks.
“It's been really rough. It really echoes down through these streets," Daniel Perry, a downtown resident, told NBC 7 when the quiet zone was first lifted.
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The railroad crossings were not unsafe, but some were not within guidelines, according to the FRA. A spokesperson with the agency said local governments must add safety measures in quiet zones since the trains aren't blowing their horns, adding that San Diego has failed to do so for the last year.
In a statement emailed to NBC 7, the FRA wrote, in part, "Not every public crossing within the quiet zone had the required supplementary safety measures. Not all crossings were in compliance with the requirements on highway-rail grade crossings. Paperwork documenting grade crossing inventories and safety devices was incomplete."
The city was required to install more than 120 railroad crossing signs at the dozen intersections, according to a news release. The FRA inspected the improvements on Thursday.
The city also submitted a traffic survey after collecting data on the number of vehicles that enter the crossing daily. That and other required documentation went to the FRA for review.
