I'm glad you find this an interesting article. Even at a mile distance this constant honking still bothers me because it's completely useless and invented by the FRA who can't even justify why the whole USA is now confronted with this noise pollution -day and night-.
You forgot to read the last part of the article.
The last part of this article gives interesting information about the FRA imposed train horn honking. Here are some copied parts:
Horn Blowing
Imagine you are at a railroad crossing. The gates are down, lights are flashing, bells ringing, a big giant locomotive with flashing lights can be seen speeding down the track. Heading out across the tracks would be crazy, but nonetheless 600 Darwin Award candidates get killed each year -- usually by driving around the gates because they are too impatient to wait 30 seconds for the train to pass.

Would it make any difference to these drivers if the locomotive were also blasting a 100 decibel horn? The FRA seemed to think so. Traditionally, horn blasting regulations were determined locally, but in 1995 the FRA began a rulemaking process to Federalize regulations and in the process dramatically increase horn blasting by going after so-called "Quiet Zones" -- i.e. places where whistle blowing was prohibited. Armed with a study that showed as many as 3(!) fatalities a year could be prevented, the FRA proposed rule would only allow Quiet Zones exemptions at crossings that had been improved with "four-quadrant" gates and curb medians.

In Illinois, which has 900 of the nearly 2000 whistle bans nationwide, cash-strapped local government would have to spend $116-234 million to meet the Federal mandate. Ironically, the FRA's own numbers show that in Illinois, collisions at crossing with hornblowing bans were actually 4.5% less frequent than at crossings where horns were sounded.
Many communities throughout the US sprung up along rail lines. In the greater Chicago area (a major rail hub) some 1.2 million residents live within one quarter mile of a grade crossing. In Beverly, MA (a suburb of Boston) the lifting of the horn ban on the city's 17 crossings would result in an average of two horns blowing every minute of every day.

Legitimate homeowner complaints over horn blasting makes it difficult to build political support for increased rail service. In her testimony before Congress, Rita Mullins, Mayor of Palatine, Illinois, notes the conflicting policies between Federal agencies: "In order to clean our air, reduce auto congestion, and improve quality of life, several federal agencies including the EPA, HUD and the Federal Transit Administration are encouraging Transit Oriented Development. The idea behind this type of development is to bring residents closer to train stations, so that they can use mass transportation, and so that downtown revitalization can occur. At the same time, the proposed train horn rule in effect is discouraging the development community and our residents from locating around transit.

"A great example of how this inconsistency in policy plays out is in the Village of Arlington Heights, Illinois. In the last several years, this village directly to the east of my community has invested over $30 million of its own money to spur transit-oriented development in its downtown. 330 higher density residential units are currently under construction, and an additional 300 are planned. 45 new businesses have moved into the downtown development to support the new residential community.

"Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder tells me she has spoken to residents who have purchased condominiums next to the train station who tell her they do not want to stay if faced with train horns around the clock. And they will hear them around the clock. Both freight and commuter trains run through her village and mine an average of seventy times daily. Developments such as this should be encouraged, not squelched by conflicting federal policies."



Interesting article but the FRA didn't kill high speed rail nor did the article have anything to do with train horns. It sounds like your issue with FRA goes beyond noise levels, which you admitted to living more than a mile away from.

Dane is a person on here who rants on about DFS and claims to have evidence people are crooked but when asked specific questions she avoids answering them and goes off in a different direction. I say that because you've been asked specific questions and you dance around and don't answer them. Personally I don't care anymore because after admitting you live over a mile away from the train tracks and the horns aren't a bother you've lost all credibility with me. I would suggest pointing your attention towards those who could make changes rather than just posting your rants here. Have a good one.

Odd you chose Illinois as an example....

January 20th, 2011
As 2011 dawns, Railroad Safety advocates are discouraged to learn that train accidents – and fatalities from such accidents – increased in 2010. There were increased fatalities in both major types of train accidents: train-automobile collisions and pedestrian accidents. According to statistics compiled and shared by the Illinois Commerce Commission, in Illinois between January and November of 2010, there were 17 people killed in train-automobile accidents and 10 people killed in train-pedestrian accidents.

This increase ends a recent trend of decreasing fatalities in the state each year. As to train-automobile deaths, there were only 10 such deaths in all of 2009, 15 in 2008, 16 in 2007, 18 in 2006 and 18 in 2005. As to train-pedestrian fatalities, there have not been this many such deaths since 12 pedestrians were killed by trains in 2007.

The total number of collisions also increased this past year. In the first 9 months of 2010, there were 76 accidents in Illinois involving a train and an automobile. Thus, the ICC calculates that once all accidents are accounted for, there will have been between 125 and 130 such accidents in Illinois in 2010. In 2009, by contrast, there were only 80 such collisions in the state over the course of the entire year. The total number of collisions between vehicles and trains had also declined in each of the previous two years.

In a different article:

Chicago pedestrian accidents at railway crossing and Illinois train accidents both increased last year, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The Illinois Department of Transportation also reports the number of fatal Illinois traffic accidents increased, although there were fewer Chicago car accidents. There were 128 fatal accidents in Chicago last year, compared to 141 in 2009. Statewide figures have not yet been released, but 916 motorists were killed through Dec. 29 last year, compared to 911 who lost their lives in 2009.

The Illinois Commerce Commission reports 17 fatalities occurred at railroad crossings from January to November last year and 10 pedestrians were killed after being hit by trains. Those numbers reverse a recent decline in accidents involving trains in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois.

Fifteen motorists were killed by trains in 2008, compared to 16 in 2007 and 18 in 2006. The 10 pedestrian fatalities is the most since 12 were killed in 2007.

Injury accidents involving trains also increased last year. Seventy-six were reported in the first nine months of the year, compared to 80 in all of 2009. More than 125 were reported in both 2007 and 2008.

jmarkrross, we don't need trillions to re-rout trains. Trains are more than welcome to continue to support our economy just the way they do now.
But we don't need new rules to create additional horn blowing noise. We don't need to ask every city to spend millions in "quiet zones".

Our railroad and FRA people seem to be satisfied as long as their house is not near a railroad. Maybe they should be paid to move their butt and go and see how other countries (Europe or Japan) have organized their railroad traffic in highly populated areas.

People should re-locate to those areas of the world where the trains suit their needs. India--for example--has the lowest rates--just jump onboard and hang on for dear life--free for a great many. Of course, the curry-stench is overpowering for those who are not fenugreek fans--and many westerners are not...

still complaining...

still complaining...


still

Illinois is indeed just an example where people are trying to tell the FRA that train honking is not a solution for safety.
Permanent train honking everywhere in the US is unacceptable. This could only be invented by useless bureaucrats trying to defend their (useless?) jobs.
California, Washington, NY are sending you the same message to explain you he same: STOP THE NOISE POLLUTION.

I'm just an example of a citizen in the Midwest OKC, KC, and many others.
I am just inviting you to use taxpayers money (=your salary) to defend the quality of life of all of us working here in the US .
Please don't defend or protect these few idiots breaking the law and creating accidents on railroad crossings!

Maybe you should get a job that pays you a little more so you don't have to worry about our salaries or your own spending habits, cause it seems like that's the issue. You spend so much of what money you have that you blame what you don't have on the government. Sounds like you need to checks and balance your bank account. I'm far off from being a millionaire but jeez, your constant nagging is a bit over the top.

nagging? I was thinking of another word

Illinois is indeed just an example where people are trying to tell the FRA that train honking is not a solution for safety.
Permanent train honking everywhere in the US is unacceptable. This could only be invented by useless bureaucrats trying to defend their (useless?) jobs.
California, Washington, NY are sending you the same message to explain you he same: STOP THE NOISE POLLUTION.

I'm just an example of a citizen in the Midwest OKC, KC, and many others.
I am just inviting you to use taxpayers money (=your salary) to defend the quality of life of all of us working here in the US .
Please don't defend or protect these few idiots breaking the law and creating accidents on railroad crossings!

Did you even read what I posted? You said Illinois has most of the horn exemptions and I show where the Illinois death rate has gone up... try to stay on track, no pun intended lol

I don't need a job anymore since I worked my ..ss of all my life.
I enjoy traveling a lot to all kind of countries, for example to India (where jmakross declares that the curry-stench is overpowering)
But also a lot to a lot of nice places in the US, South America and to European countries (where I was born):
I can assure you, my dear friends, that public money, safety and noise (or other) pollution free living conditions are important in the rest of the world.
Not in the US ... as long as your house is far away from the railroad you to stop the discussion by declaring "Move if you don't like the noise".
Good luck to you all if this is the attitude of the public servants in the US! I have the time now and will react, publish comments and vote AGAINST you!

Sounds like you've found a solution to your problem... move to a different country where they don't blow train horns :Smiley036

Nope, just traveling right now.... I like to live and love the way of life here in the USA.
But as a responsible US citizen I would like my (and your) tax money to be spent to improve our living conditions and environment.
And that's not what the FRA does.
The FRA increases the train honking noise for everyone without any reason.

Can anyone tell me why all trains recently started to honk at least 4 times for every railroad crossing in the US (day and night?)

FRA bureaucracy:
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/03/17/critics-hsr-will-fail-because-the-federal-railroad-administrations-too-small/

We really need to add a few hundred employees at the FRA.
This will assure that the high speed trains will honk permanently, day and night.
Safety first!

To prove that I'm not always negative, here is an example of positive work done by the FRA:


An FRA study revealed that there had been an average of two incidents of “catastrophic structural failure” of railroad bridges each year from January 1982 to December 2006, according to an FRA statement in the September 11, 2007, Federal Register. Approximately 61,000 bridges and 800 tunnels are owned and maintained by the nation’s major (class I) railroads, and another 15,000 bridges are owned and maintained by the regional (class II and class III) railroads. At least 50 percent of these bridges were constructed before 1920, according to a 1993 FRA survey.

In its September 2007 recommendations, the FRA noted that while most major railroads follow the FRA guidelines on bridge safety, some do not adequately address problems discovered during bridge inspections quickly enough to prevent critical failures or near failures; moreover, “a considerable number” of smaller railroads have inadequate inspection and maintenance programs or show “absolutely no evidence of bridge inspection, management, or maintenance.”

(published by The American society of Civil Engineers in http://www.asce.org/Content.aspx?id=25562 )

You just don't like train horns. Nothing wrong with that.

That's right, I don't like extreme loud noise. (whatever is the source)
Trains can make more than 100 decibel noise while honking and that can be deafening.
An administration imposing trains to honk all the time all over the US is just deafening and keeping awake the people without real justification.
All these people need some rest to be able work hard and pay taxes to finance e.g. the administrations.




You just don't like train horns. Nothing wrong with that.

I would be far more amenable to an array of crazy-wild LED lights--which would also help the deaf--and ditch loud horns altogether.

Yes, jmarkross, in a way you could extend safety measures as far as you want

But when I have to ave to stop for a railroad I see 6 flashing red lights, I hear a loud bell ringing and half of the road is blocked by lowered crossing arms.

What can you do better for the safety of law respecting people?

PLEASE don't add loud honking, day and night > 100 decibel .

Nope, just traveling right now.... I like to live and love the way of life here in the USA.
But as a responsible US citizen I would like my (and your) tax money to be spent to improve our living conditions and environment.
And that's not what the FRA does.
The FRA increases the train honking noise for everyone without any reason.

Can anyone tell me why all trains recently started to honk at least 4 times for every railroad crossing in the US (day and night?)

I don't want my tax money to be spent the way you want your tax money to be spent & I really don't care how yours is spent. Hey, here's an idea...since none of your ideas are going to go the way you want them to, unless you go back to work as a political lobbyist then I suggest you move out of the US and enjoy life in other countries that aren't f'd up like the good ol' US of A!

Oh my God, good old Sachem OKCisOK4me (only 4 himself?) has finally spoken.
Please consider the following thoughts, my friend:
- You cant want or have any influence on how your (or my) tax money is spent. That's why we live in a democracy.
- I might go to work as a political lobbyist to stop this idiot day and night train horn blowing imposed by the FRA in the USA.
- I love to live in the US of A, I only want to improve our living conditions and reduce all kinds of (and including) noise pollution.

Nobody really answered the question of many US citizens
Can anyone tell us why all trains recently started to honk at least 4 times for every railroad crossing in the US (day and night?)

Well, I can tell you for one thing that every whistle sign is at least a 1/4 mile from any crossing AND when upon a city like Edmond, downtown OKC or Norman, those crossings are one city block away from eachother. Therefore its a constant whale. Again, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you want to lobby for companies and federal subsidies to spend money to alleviate all road crossings, those companies and this country will go broke. I'd rather deal with a national debt that is for the most part due largely to protecting this country from foreign And domestic terrorism than worry about the complaints of you and fellow NIMBYs!

No Sir, I don't need any subsidies. I'm just working (volunteering since I have a lot of free time ) to make the USA a better (and quieter) place to live.

Please don't confuse this discussion with national debt .. and stop trying to scare everyone for "terrorism", this is really another discussion.

This is just a unrealistic and stupid noise rule invented by he FRA.
Everyone understands that it makes no sense to force trains to blow the horns all the time.



Except you, because ... OKCisOK4me... good luck!

I live five miles from the closest tracks...y u keep it up is beyond me, but whatever. Best of luck torea. I'd like to meet u some time..

TOREA, if you live in Kansas City, why are you wasting your time and ours by posting on an Oklahoma City message board?

Well, I can tell you for one thing that every whistle sign is at least a 1/4 mile from any crossing AND when upon a city like Edmond, downtown OKC or Norman, those crossings are one city block away from eachother. Therefore its a constant whale. Again, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you want to lobby for companies and federal subsidies to spend money to alleviate all road crossings, those companies and this country will go broke. I'd rather deal with a national debt that is for the most part due largely to protecting this country from foreign And domestic terrorism than worry about the complaints of you and fellow NIMBYs!

Norman is raising the tracks by making traffic go under on Robinson. So.... How about not only the companies and states pay up, the cities can pay up. Its not going to break anyone.

UnclePete, don't be so narrow minded man... Is Oklahome the only part of the world you know and privileged to have the only people to publish on this blog?
A while ago we saw jmakross telling on his blog that the curry-stench in India is overpowering ... well, I like curry and it seems to be very healty too.

I like your proposal, OKCisOK4me: make the railroad companies and the states pay for the bridges and tunnels. Finaly we will all pay for it anyway but small cities and communities have no means to "quiet" their railroad crossings. In fact they even don't have the people and the money to think about it.

You are wrong there, Torea. Cities are just as much responsible, too. They became established long after the railroads was there. And they build houses and business too close to the railroads, so yeah, I think cities should pay up, like what Norman did.

I agree that the cities should also contribute (proportional to their size).
May be a first initiative to limit all these expenses could be a traffic study to count the number of cars using railroad crossings.
Close to my home is a small road where more trains than cars are crossing. So 120 daily trains have to honk 4 times for 40 cars stopping anyway?

And you are also right that businesses were created close to railroads.
A lot of these busnesses are railroad customers and pay for the railroad transportation services.

Nobody could not imagine that suddenly te FRA introduced a new rule to blow the train horns a full 5 hours per day.
During these 5 hours these businesses have to interrupt any conversation (including phone calls to their customers).

If I was one of these business owners I would relocate (and use truck transportation) or go broke!

torea - I just find it a bit ridiculous that this thread is the only thing that you have posted in on OKC Talk, a thread that you created. You obviously are passionate about this subject but there is much more to the world than this one pet issue.

I'm not sure if I understand you bluedogok,
This thread was created on 10-14-2010 my first message is dated less than 6 months ago (1-22-2011).
Maybe this is for you just a pet issue ... not for me, many other people and many businesses.
I did not create this thread at all.

And here is a marvelous story to bring to the attention of our train engineers:
The FRA thinks you don't know the difference between the front and the back of a locomotive.
(Maybe we all could make following suggestion to the FRA: the front of a locomotive is where these loud honking horns are installed).

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/07/tales-of-the-red-tape-13-an-%E2%80%9Cf%E2%80%9D-for-train-regulation/

It seems that the Obama administration found $1 Billion savings just by eliminating useless railroad safety equipment.
(This was recently published in Time magazine).

TOREA, if you live in Kansas City, why are you wasting your time and ours by posting on an Oklahoma City message board?

They probably got tired of all the whining on the KC boards. :Smiley171

Norman is raising the tracks by making traffic go under on Robinson. So.... How about not only the companies and states pay up, the cities can pay up. Its not going to break anyone.

Thunder, that's one lousy bridge. Look up the Alameda Corridor. See how much that cost...

This guy Torea wants to do that across the country. Maybe not in the countryside but in every city, alleviating every road crossing? That would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay costly.

Thunder, while Robinson in Norman will soon go under the track, that's not really as much about the train horns as it is better access across town due to 28+ trains a day coming through.

There will still be a lot of at grade crossings in Norman that are one mile or less apart.
Indian Hills
Franklin (1 mile south of IH)
Tecumseh (1 mile south of Franklin)
Rock Creek (1 mile south of Tecumseh)
Lexington (1/2 mile south of Rock Creek)
Robinson (soon to be an underpass)
Acres (1/2 mile south of Robinson)
Gray (1 block north of Main)
Main (1/2 mile south of Acres)
Eufaula (1/4 mile south of Main)
Duffy (1/8 mile south of Eufaula)
Boyd (1/8 mile south of Duffy
Brooks (1/2 mile south of Boyd)
Lindsey (1/2 mile south of Brooks)
Constitution (1 mile south of Lindsey)
HWY 9 (train passes under)

I can't hear every call-out from where I live, but I can hear most. For me it's a welcome sound, but others hear it quite differently, and if I lvied right on top of the tracks I might be less happy myself. But I grew up with train sounds,a nd in their own way, they take me back home more often than they bug me.

The 2 recent train accidents prove in fact that the FRA imposed train honking does NOT improve safety.
On the contrary: truck and other drivers get used to that noise and make no more association between your honking and the danger of an arriving train.

You could start honking 8 times for every crossing and will see another exponential increase of train accidents all over the US.

Please look further than your nose and see that in Europe (for example) trains honk only in emergency situations ... this works and reduces accidents since there the car and truck drivers are not used to this disturbing noise and stop when they hear it.

More noise is not the solution ... using your (and the FRA's) brains might help to reduce the number of accidents.

It was too good to be true...your silence breaking was inevitable...

OKCisOK4me:

Yes, I will continue to publish my opinion wherever I can. You call this "breaking silence" as all the trains have to break silence all over the US.

Because it becomes more and more clear that these FRA noise pollution rules have no safety improving effect at all (on the contrary).

Is anyone in the US interested to look how this is handled in the rest of the civilized world?
Or is the almighty FRA bureaucracy dictating "Big Brother's" useless rules not to be discussed by anyone .... Just as in any good old communist regime? - They all disappeared btw.

All of your posts are in this thread. Why don't you broaden your horizons and expand your mind out to other threads. Nevermind, you'll probably pollute them too!

The reason simple, the subject of this thread is "2010 and trains still have to blow horns?".
Meanwhile we live in 2011 but trains still honk like in the early 1900's when the West was won (go see the movies if you like that noise Mr OKCisOK4me).

The reason simple, the subject of this thread is "2010 and trains still have to blow horns?".
Meanwhile we live in 2011 but trains still honk like in the early 1900's when the West was won (go see the movies if you like that noise Mr OKCisOK4me).

I remember watching Old Westerns with my late grandfather, and guess what, the old steam powered trains had horns----and they blew them!!!

Yep, rcjunkie, you can go and smoke and blow and live in your Old Western dreams (or hallucinations?)

But big parts of the US meanwhile became a "civilized society".

My grandfather was in 1914 a soldier in WW1 ... I feel no need to smell the poisonous gas he had to swallow!

Torea, do you realize that OKCTalk are simply for discussion? Nothing here can ever be done for anything. There is simply nothing. City leaders, State leaders, National leaders, and Evil leaders do not ever really study the many online forums and enact changes for anything. What you need to do is to successfully become vocal. Start a petition (such as someone did on Caylee's Law) and hit jackpot to make it viral. On that thought, I want to petition for a Casey's Law... Make it punishable for people to judge her. *sighs* Anyway, its great to discuss, but Torea, you seem to have the attitude to demand for changes to be done, but its simply impossible to do that on this forum. Although a forum such as this is great for people to get involved and go out there pushing for changes instead of staying on the forum demanding for changes. Unfortunately, no one here seem to really care (I see lack of encouraged individuals) to jump on board with you. Just understand that you are merely engaging in discussing this topic, but don't expect results to come of it.

And people need to stop the kinda-bashing on Torea. She/He has every right to be passionate about this.

I agree with you, Thunder that I will probably not find anyone on this forum who could help to change the FRA noise pollution rules - Unless some of my FRA friends are reading this forum.
This forum's subject "2010 and trains still have to blow horns?" might invite FRA bureaucrats, retired (and deaf) railroad engineers, sleepless citizens and maybe also class action lawyers to read and get interested in this discussion.
My only purpose is to inform as many people as possible about this incredible noise pollution in the USA.
Maybe someone will add his comments and help us by telling how we can stop this old fashioned Western style honking.
Please feel free to create your own forum about "petition for a Casey's Law" or other subjects. I will be glad to give you there my comments and thoughts.

I do agree with you that they are going about the wrong way on honking their trains excessively and at each crossing.

Thunder, have you and torea ever looked up the FRA regs concerning whistling? Trains have been whistling at crossings for 100 years or more, and neither of you have the power to change that.

The reason simple, the subject of this thread is "2010 and trains still have to blow horns?".
Meanwhile we live in 2011 but trains still honk like in the early 1900's when the West was won (go see the movies if you like that noise Mr OKCisOK4me).

Very well, but the title of the thread is not your screenname. Peace out (honk hoooooonk hoonk hoonk)

toot toot (http://www.trainweb.org/mdamtrak199/trainsounds/259.wav)

toot toot (http://www.trainweb.org/mdamtrak199/trainsounds/259.wav)

ROTFLOL. Perhaps the only time I have wished a sound effect would auto-start.

I think that the case could be made to augment the traditional train horns with those relatively new Ultra-Sirens on some ambulances, police cars and fire trucks.

That, or make texting in traffic (by a driver) an offense punishable by having one's thumbs rendered inoperabale.

You would probably be amazed at the near-misses--caused by reality disassociation--between emergency vehicles and texting drivers that I have personally witnessed over the last few years. Or maybe you wouldn't.

On the other hand, we could pay to mount massive air horns on those same emergency vehicles to augment the sirens that a lot of "drivers" seem to ignore . . .

(BTW: In the background, as I type, I hear the faint "whistle" of a train about a mile-and-a-half away) . . .

RadicalModerate, I vote for your:
"make texting in traffic (by a driver) an offense punishable by having one's thumbs rendered inoperable".

In addition offenses like "crossing railroads while red lights are flashing and alarm bells are ringing" should be punished by paying for all the damage an 10 years of jail if other people are killed.

I would give Roadhawg a big TOOTER (and a lollypop) if these 2 objectives could be realized!

I'm going to start a thread entitled, "2011, and Cars Aren't Flying Yet, Like It Was Revealed In Back to the Future 2???"

Sure, OKCisOK4me.

I might send you my dreaming surrealistic comments about these not too bad made SF movies .

Just as some people added their romantic dreaming, movie related comments in this tread about "2010 and trains still have to blow horns?"

Only the ear deafening horns are the reality of every day's life now for many people in the US... Can you sy the same about your Back to the Future cars???

What???? I can't hear you! It's too loud in here!!

Just wait 5 minutes until the train is gone ... then we can talk again.

This is the message thousands of businesses have to give to their customers who just as Mr. OKCisOK4me shout: "What???? I can't hear you! It's too loud in here!! "

Needless to say that lots of these businesses are looking for other places to sell and grow in peace.

Also instead of using the nearby noisy railroad they will use other and more silent transportation methods.

This exaggerated honking is killing your own business, Mr. OKCisOK4me .... Do you hear me now?

I guess my ears are stobbed up bad today. I don't think I've heard a single train go through. Kinda bummed by that.

Just wait 5 minutes until the train is gone ... then we can talk again.

This is the message thousands of businesses have to give to their customers who just as Mr. OKCisOK4me shout: "What???? I can't hear you! It's too loud in here!! "

Needless to say that lots of these businesses are looking for other places to sell and grow in peace.

Also instead of using the nearby noisy railroad they will use other and more silent transportation methods.

This exaggerated honking is killing your own business, Mr. OKCisOK4me .... Do you hear me now?

You obviously can't read into sarcasm, LOL.

What???? I can't hear you! It's too loud in here!!

Just wait 5 minutes until the train is gone ... then we can talk again.

This is the message thousands of businesses have to give to their customers who just as Mr. OKCisOK4me shout: "What???? I can't hear you! It's too loud in here!! "

Needless to say that lots of these businesses are looking for other places to sell and grow in peace.

Also instead of using the nearby noisy railroad they will use other and more silent transportation methods.

This exaggerated honking is killing your own business, Mr. OKCisOK4me .... Do you hear me now?

O yes, my sarcasm is your problem:
How can you be so outdated and old fashioned to deny that environmental protection, and noise reduction has finaly arrived in the USA.

Unless you want to go back to the past in 1850, Go West and live in the woods there you have been able to burn kill, steal, "develop" and impose more of your silly rules. LOL.

The incessant..24/7..loud..screeching..train horns cannot be good for our health. I have lived one block from a railroad track for nearly a year now and have not had a good night's sleep since. I am in the process of inquiring what health concerns continuous disrupted sleep may have. Not just interrupted sleep, though, like being awakened by your partner or pet occasionally. The train horns are super loud and violent. It seems barbaric to me. Antiquated! And, how many people are wondering about railroad tracks that need the horn? I really want to know>