2018-040 Railroad Quiet ZonesDate: April 6, 2018 Report No. 2018-040
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
An update on railroad Quiet Zones in the City of Denton.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Union Pacific Railroad has 16 at-grade crossings within the City of Denton. Staff is currently
working on establishing Quite Zones along four at-grade crossings located in the downtown area.
Due to considerable involvement of the railroad in the implementation process, it typically takes
18 to 24 months to establish a Quite Zone. In the last five months staff has completed the
diagnostic review and identified the improvements required at the crossings in the downtown
segment. Currently, the railroad is working on developing plans, design and estimates which will
be completed in May. The overall project is on track and scheduled to be completed by July
2019.
BACKGROUND:
Three major railroads traverse through the City of Denton with 34 at-
grade railroad crossings. The three railroads are Union Pacific
Railroad (UPRR) which has 16 at-grade crossings, Kansas City
Southern (KCS) which has 9 at-grade crossings and Denton County
Transportation Authority (DCTA) which has 9 at-grade crossings. All
DCTA at-grade crossings are currently Quite Zones (QZ). The UPRR
crossings are categorized into the northern segment which include 8
at-grade crossings, Downtown Segment with 4 crossings and
Southern Segment with 4 crossings.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requires trains to blow
horns at at-grade crossings for 15-20 seconds from crossing and
through the crossing. The horn sound is 96-110 decibels
approximately 100 feet from the crossing (see Exhibit 1). Typically,
QZ are implemented to reduce the noise near a residential
neighborhood, school, hospital or other sound-sensitive area. QZ is
implemented at one or group of crossings that use supplemental safety
measures (see Exhibit 2) to eliminate use of train horns.
The UPRR crossings in the downtown segment include; Prairie,
Sycamore, Hickory and McKinney crossings. The funding of over
one million dollars ($350,000 bond funding and $600,000 Hickory
Street enhancement project) was approved for implementing QZ
along the downtown segment of the UPRR. Staff has been working on
the Downtown QZ project for the last five months and will be starting
the QZ project on the northern segment by late summer this year.
Date: April 6, 2018 Report No. 2018-040
Steps in establishing a Quite Zone
Conduct evaluation to determine possible treatments and approximate cost.
Contact railroad to determine if warning devices comply with the rule and collect train
operational data for use in calculating risk.
Conduct diagnostic team review to finalize recommendations.
Request plans, estimates, and agreements from railroad for any work to be done by the
railroad.
o UPRR prepares plans, design and estimated (approximately 60 to 90 days)
o UPRR construction (order and obtain material, schedule construction and
complete construction – approximately 12 months)
File notice of intent to create a quiet zone (approximately 60 days). This can move
concurrently with the previous step.
Complete quiet zone improvements.
File notice of establishment to create a quiet zone (approximately 30 day).
In order to help the City move through this process and complete the implementation of QZ, staff
has retained the services of CTC, Inc.
PROJECT STATUS:
Staff has worked with CTC, Inc. in the past five months to complete the first three steps and is
currently working with UPRR on the fourth step. A diagnostic review was conducted by a team
of professionals that comprised of City staff, CTC staff, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
staff and UPRR staff in January. The team reviewed existing conditions and developed
recommendations for improving the crossings at the four downtown locations to qualify for QZ.
Subsequently, City staff worked with UPRR staff to prepare and execute an agreement for
developing the engineering plans for the proposed improvements. Currently, UPRR staff is
working on developing the engineering plans and cost estimates for the proposed improvements
which will require approximately 60 days and is planned to be completed by May 2018.
After the completion of the design UPRR will provide a cost estimate to the City. If this cost is
acceptable to the City, an agreement between UPRR and City will be executed to pay UPRR to
implement the improvements and establish a QZ in the Downton area. Once such agreement is
signed and the City authorizes UPRR to move forward the construction phase will require
approximately 260 days. Based on the overall schedule of the project we are on track to complete
the QZ by July 2019.
CONCLUSION:
Staff plans to move this project through the design and construction phase as expeditiously as
possible working closely with UPRR staff by constantly tracking the progress and achieving the
downtown crossings QZ implementation by July 2019.
EXHIBITS:
1. Noise Cones
2. Supplemental Safety Measures
Date: April 6, 2018 Report No. 2018-040
STAFF CONTACT:
Pritam Deshmukh
City Traffic Engineer
(940) 349-7710
Pritam.Deshmukh@cityofdenton.com
Supplemental Safety Measures7/10
Noise Cones7/10Train HornsWayside Horns