San Jose: ‘Quiet zone’ to stop trains from blaring horns at night is finally on the horizon

Nearby residents say they can finally see a "light at the end of the tunnel" after many sleepless nights.

San Jose residents who have endured years of freight trains blaring their horns and jerking them awake at all hours of the night appear to finally be on the brink of getting some relief.

Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed off on a major state spending plan that, in part, allocated $8 million for the city of San Jose to create a “quiet zone” along the Union Pacific Warm Springs Railroad corridor that runs through downtown and the neighborhoods of Japantown and Hensley.

As a first step, the city plans to create a quiet zone would require train operators to silence their horns from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. at crossings along 1.8 miles of the San Jose tracks — from the crossing at Montgomery Street near the Diridon Station to Horning Street near San Jose’s northern limit. City officials hope to have the overnight quiet zone in place by the end of October.

Then, residents hope the newly acquired funding will allow the city to stop the use of the horns at all hours of the day.

Jason Muehring, who lives about a block away from the tracks in the Hensley neighborhood and has spent years working with officials to find a resolution to the nuisance, said in an interview Thursday that the new funding provided a “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“We’re just really looking forward to finally being able to sleep through the night once our quiet zone is completed,” he said.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who represents portions of downtown San Jose, submitted the state funding request for the project, which was included as part of the governor’s  $100 billion California Comeback Plan.

In response to the funding approval, Kalra said Thursday that he was looking forward to “bringing some peace to the neighborhood.”

“If we’re going to tell folks ‘we want you to come and live in Japantown,’ then we better make it a community that’s welcoming,” he said. “… And those train horns aren’t exactly welcoming in the middle of the night.”

The jarring signals from the diesel trains that run along the tracks first became an issue for residents in early 2019 when Union Pacific increased the number of trains passing through the city and began running them at night as part of a plan to reduce idling locomotives.

Residents like Muehring said their quality of life dropped almost immediately, prompting them to band together to try and put an end to the unbearable late-night disturbances.

Under federal law, train operators are mandated to sound their horns at crossings to warn nearby motorists and pedestrians to stay away from the tracks — that is unless a city like San Jose can meet certain safety requirements, such as warning signs, barriers and bells at crossings, to establish a quiet zone.

A study completed on behalf of the city last summer confirmed that San Jose met the minimum requirements to move forward with its plan for an overnight quiet zone so long as safety improvements were made to the Jackson and Seventh streets crossing.

After residents spent two years lodging complaints against the railway operator and lobbying city officials to address the issue, the city announced plans in August 2020 to create a quiet zone. But the COVID-19 pandemic, design process, funding needs and drawn-out negotiations with Union Pacific have delayed it.

To remedy the noise issues as quickly as possible, city officials are finalizing a plan with Union Pacific and other federal and state agencies for temporary infrastructure improvements like plastic barriers and new signage that will allow the “quiet zone” to take effect much quicker than waiting for the permanent improvements. They’ll also cost about $100,000 compared to tens of millions of dollars.

“We are very aware that people have been losing sleep for a very long time, and it is our number one priority to push this as quickly as within our power in order to get them some sleep,” said Jessica Zenk, deputy director of transportation for San Jose.

Still, the quick-build improvements will fall short of achieving the broader goal sought by community members — making the quiet zone around the clock so that not only could residents sleep better at night but Japantown businesses and visitors could also experience fewer interruptions during the day.

That’s where the new state funding comes into play.

To mandate trains silence their horns at all hours, city officials say that heightened safety features and infrastructure updates must take place first, such as installing pedestrian gates, replacing curbs and adding new lighting structures. The desired upgrades at all 14 crossings along the corridor would cost between $20-$30 million, according to a study completed last year.

But the new $8 million in state funding, along with about $5 million set aside in the city’s budget next year, will allow San Jose officials to complete the necessary upgrades at the three railroad crossings that need the heaviest lift. The city is seeking other funding, such as federal grants, to help cover the remaining costs.

“This is almost like the starting place because now the real work is actually building the improvements themselves,” said Christopher Wemp, a community leader who lives near the tracks in Japantown. “It’s a great step as part of a bigger journey.”

The irritating sound of late-night horns is not the only problem San Jose residents and city leaders have had with Union Pacific in recent years. Illegal dumping, graffiti and trash accumulating along the tracks also became a sore spot, with city officials even threatening to sue the railway operator for posing a nuisance.

But in December, Union Pacific finally agreed to enter a 10-year contract with the city promising to conduct routine clearing of trash and encampments along its railroad tracks.