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2018-073 Railroad Quiet ZonesDate: June 15, 2018 Report No. 2018-073 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 Quiet 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 Quiet Zone. In the last six 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 July. 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 Quiet 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 six months and will be starting the QZ project on the northern segment by late summer this year. Date: June 15, 2018 Report No. 2018-073 Steps in establishing a Quiet 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 six 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 July 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. Staff will provide a status update to City Council during an August work session. Date: June 15, 2018 Report No. 2018-073 EXHIBITS: 1. Noise Cones 2. Supplemental Safety Measures STAFF CONTACT: Pritam Deshmukh City Traffic Engineer (940) 349-7710 Pritam.Deshmukh@cityofdenton.com Supplemental Safety Measures/Wayside HornsFour Quadrant Gates ($300k-$500k)Raised Medians ($25k-$40k)Wayside Horns ($80k-$100k)One-Way Street ($50k-$75k)