San Felipe Pueblo Gets Quiet Zone

Pueblo Residents Will Hear Less Train Noise

(San Felipe Pueblo, NM – December 30, 2009) – This coming Monday – January 4^th – the Hagen Road railroad crossing on San Felipe Pueblo will officially “go quiet” - meaning that trains will stop sounding their horns when passing through the area. 

 “The residents of San Felipe Pueblo will notice a significant difference in this area in terms of train noise reduction”, says Dewey Cave, Interim Executive Director for the Mid-Region Council of Governments. “The upgrades that are made to qualify the quiet zones are meant to keep motorists from trying to beat a train through the crossing. The obvious bonus of course is that they also reduce the impact of noise in the community”.

Up until the last few years, all trains were required to issue a warning horn as they approached railroad crossings. But Federal Railroad Administration rules released in 2005 outlined specific safety guidelines that would qualify a crossing for quiet zone status when equipped with additional warning signs and safety measures to compensate for the absence of the train’s horn as a warning device.  

This particular crossing is already equipped with a four-quadrant crossing gate system, which unlike traditional crossing gates that block traffic with one crossing arm on each side of the track, the “quad-gates” barricade all lanes of traffic in both directions. The installation of this type of added safety equipment is what makes the area eligible for a “quiet zone” designation.

Contacts: 

• Jay Faught, MRCOG Marketing 505-414-5496
• Augusta Meyers, MRCOG Communications Mgr. 505-239-8612, ameyers@mrcog-nm.gov

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