WINTER PARK, Fla. — The commuter train SunRail is coming – and with it loud horn blasts that threaten to disrupt normally quiet neighborhoods.
Local governments are discovering they may have to come up with millions of dollars to make SunRail trains and their crossings a lot quieter.
That has upset some residents who live near where the trains will come through.
Winter Park resident Janet Keaney has learned to adapt to the occasional train horn blast near her home. But that will change when SunRail arrives in 2014 because the horns announcing oncoming trains will blast every 30 minutes during peak times.
“It’s going to make living here more difficult, Keaney said.
The horns go off to warn drivers near railroad crossings that a train is coming.
Transportation officials said it would cost at least $8 million to turn the entire length of SunRail – 61.5 miles stretching from Volusia to Osceola counties – into a “quiet zone.’’
For the cautionary horns to go off less, more gates that block traffic at rail crossings would need to be built. Crossings that now only have two gates would need to have four to completely block traffic from both directions to prevent cars from colliding with the trains.
But WFTV reporter Racquel Asa discovered that cities don’t have the money to fund these safety improvements.
“At the beginning we probably thought it was a little easier than it actually is, but we do have to meet those safety requirements,’’ said Cynthia Lambert, a spokeswoman for MetroPlan Orlando, which is involved in developing SunRail.
Winter Park alone has 16 rail crossings that need safety improvements, but the city doesn’t have the $3.5 million needed to make them.
Joan Milligan lives two miles from Park Avenue and isn’t looking forward to hearing the horns.
“I think they owe it to all of us to have that quiet zone,’’ she said.
There is some hope for residents along the SunRail corridor. Horns on the trains will be placed differently compared to the ones that use the tracks now. Florida Department of Transportation says the horn will be placed on the bottom of the locomotive to reduce the noise. Shields will also surround the horn to make project the sound forward to minimize noise.
Fellow Winter Park resident Janet Keaney said if officials don’t find a way to cut the noise, “I may think of living somewhere else.’’
WFTV
