Residents who live along the North Central Service Metra line throughout Lake County are hearing train horns again after a temporary suspension was placed on the designated quiet zone due to maintenance needs at dozens of rail crossings locations.
The quiet zone suspension is in place until the identified crossings are brought into compliance with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which initiated the suspension.
Buffalo Grove deputy public works director and village engineer Kyle Johnson said he and officials at other municipalities are focused on long-term compliance with the FRA and quiet zone, once it’s reinstated.
“This isn’t something that we would anticipate happening again anytime in the near future,” Johnson said.
The Lake County Quiet Zone was established in 2007 through a joint partnership with local municipalities to limit trains from sounding their horns at certain crossing locations within Lake County.
The quiet zone stretches from Antioch to Wheeling, and includes crossings in Lake Villa, Round Lake, Mundelein and others.
Municipalities are responsible for any construction work and modifications to the crossings to bring them into FRA compliance.
Since Buffalo Grove serves as the official administrator for the Lake County Quiet Zone, the village has taken the lead on working with the FRA on compliance
Of the 59 rail crossings along the North Central Service, Johnson said 45 needed some type of modification to be FRA compliant.
Identified deficiencies were based upon a recent FRA inspection. Some of the crossings need the medians raised through the center of the roadway, while other crossings just need signage improvements to notify pedestrians and cars of the railway.
The corrective actions being taken are long-term improvements. Johnson said most municipalities are electing to install a permanent, non-traversable median over delineators, which are raised signs posted to the edge of the roadway, so they don’t have to revisit the issue in a couple years.
“All 10 of the communities are focused on what we have to do, to having hard surfaces as the safety measures as opposed to signage or other things that may get knocked down or blown over,” Johnson said.
The last few crossings will finish construction over the next couple weeks, Johnson said, then a final inspection will be done.
Buffalo Grove director of communications Molly Gillespie hopes the quiet zone suspension is lifted by the end of the year.
The quiet zone was officially suspended on Sept. 30, but Johnson said the horns only started up a couple weeks ago.
He’s heard complaints from residents about the horns, which are heard about every 40 minutes and throughout the night.
“It’s very disruptive to their life in general, and people are home more now than ever,” Johnson said.
