FREEPORT, Maine — As trains blew their horns in the background, nearly two dozen residents urged the Town Council to institute quiet zones at rail crossings in town to silence the Amtrak Downeaster train horns they said are disrupting their lives.
In a discussion that pushed past 10 p.m. Tuesday, councilors remained hesitant about the costs and liability of quiet zones, eventually pushing the issue to a tentatively scheduled Jan. 8 meeting.
All but one of the more than a dozen residents who spoke supported quiet zones, some to the point of desperation.
Shannon Garrity, who lives on West Street along the tracks, said the early morning train horns wake her, sometimes before 6 a.m., and she’s unable to go back to sleep.
“It’s absolutely, positively horrible,” Garrity said. “I stand in my driveway and cry; this is my life now. There is no concern for the people of Freeport with this plan for economic development. … We are collateral damage and it’s unfair to us.”
The Downeaster, which began service to Freeport Nov. 1, makes two round trips a day between Boston and Brunswick, blasting train horns eight times a day at each of the town’s six crossings.
Other residents who live near the tracks, including Amanda Myer, said the horns wake up her two children during the night, which is starting to affect their school work.
“My younger daughter is falling asleep at school,” she said.
Myer also said she has an in-law house that had been rented for years to the same tenant, who moved out two weeks ago because the train noise was too much to bear. Now, she’s having trouble renting the home; one person who decided not to rent cited the train noise as the reason.
“You don’t know how loud the train is when it comes by,” she said. “There’s absolutely an impact on all of us.”
Josh Cushing, manager at the Hilton Garden Inn, said although the hotel supports the new train service, noise is the top complaint from patrons and its costing the hotel business.
“We are offering sleep kits with ear plugs to guests to help them get a good night’s sleep,” he said, noting the kits cost the hotel $1,500 for 250, or $6 each. “We feel the train is beneficial, however the expense to us will only erode over time.”
Residents, with data and research on quiet zones in hand, seemed more prepared for the discussion than the councilors: at one point they provided data from the town website that the councilors didn’t think they had.
If quiet zones were instituted, the town would likely institute “channelization,” which separates traffic lanes with tall plastic cones on both sides of the tracks, acting as a deterrent for people trying to go around the gates.
This method would cost about $100,000.
Other options include raised medians, which could prove difficult for snow plowing, and a system of “quad gates,” that can cost upwards of $1 million.
Many councilors didn’t seem ready to take a position. They noted a need to review the data on safety and costs and to get more information on how to proceed with getting a quiet zone designation from the Federal Rail Authority.
Currently, the town has lights, gates and bells at all the crossings and meets the requirements to be designated a quiet zone. Other southern Maine towns and cities serviced by the Downeaster, including Portland, Falmouth and Brunswick, are quiet zones.
But, if another daily train is added — which the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority has indicated is a goal — the town could cross the risk threshold and lose the ability to have quiet zone status, Councilor Melanie Sachs said.
Sachs, who was in favor of quiet zones, but not ready to commit without more information, said the town should use its own data to determine risk when trying to become a designated quiet zone. This way the town would be in control of the designation and not have multiple stakeholders’ input in an application process.
Council Chaiman Jim Hendircks, who lives near the tracks, said he was in favor of quiet zones based on support from residents and didn’t want to “punt this too far down the road.”
“Personally, I don’t get woken up by the train. But, I’m a heavy sleeper,” he said. “The last we’d like to have is an accident; the last thing we’d want is a fatality.”
But, he continued, “all things could be prevented by a little education.”
The council should also explore the possibility of getting money from the rail authority to help pay for the safety mechanisms, Hendricks said.
Leave it to the yuppies and the puppies to complain about everything. They hate trucks for their Jake-brake, and trains for their horn. Some years ago the upwardly mobile here in Downeast Maine made the coast guard muffle the fog horns. When I was a kid they sang me to sleep.
The good news is that all these folks (and me too) are headed for a very silent place where trains never go, and horns never blow.
There is nothing more silent than the grave.
Can’t wait! I’m DVR’ing the whole thing. :P
For a minute there, I thought you wrote uppity mobile and as I was laughing heartily, I realized my contacts were fogged. Cool sentiments expressed here Tux.
I really miss those foghorns! I live near PSNY, and sometimes there is a lot of noise at night. I figure it’s the price of prosperity! What bothers me more is my neighbors’ dogs constant barking when they are outside.
Stopping the train horns at crossings just might cause some of these complainers to exit to the grave prematurely. I suppose one solution would be to completely barricade the crossings 2 or 3 minutes before the train arrives, nah,,,, they would whine about that also.
You liberals wanted this thing so you could save the world from that menacing “Globaly Warming Climatey Changey” stuff…remember? I dont think that horn is loud enough…pedestrial safety should be of utmost importance here….you should be able to hear that horn in New Hampshire!
As a flat-lander yuppie liberal, I must agree. The train tracks have been there for over 200 years, I cannot spare them any sympathy.
The tracks in Freeport are definitely not 200 years old. I don’t know their exact age, but the very first railroad in Maine wasn’t built until the 1830’s.
If Earnest said 175+ would that be close enough?
With a magin of error of 25%..
I really don’t like it when you and I agree Bill… but on this, we do.
Bill, this is like two in a row that we agree on, what is happening to this country?
They are concidered Climate Control Freaks.. CCF’s Or Climate Controlers, CC’s.. They think they can change the earths climate. If they can do what they claim I’ll take 72 degrees year round.
Please don’t generalize.
The only problem is an attitude problem. The Downeaster travels through the heavily populated residential areas of Saco and Biddeford 10 times a day, and there are not endless articles on how it’s destroying peoples lives, because it isn’t.
If you let it upset you it will only fester and upset you more. If you don’t let it bother you it won’t be a problem. Residents in Freeport are not he only people in the world that live near railroad tracks, everyone else manages to survive.
They should consider themselves lucky their town is wealthy enough to be able to consider spending the extra money on quiet zones. I can think of plenty of Maine towns where this option wouldn’t even be on the table.
Exactly. Look at all the other towns the Downeaster has been passing through for the past 11 years… Scarborough, Old Orchard Beach, Arundel, Kennebunk, Wells, North Berwick, South Berwick… no one from those towns has complained about their neighborhoods or their lives being “destroyed,” nor do the residents stand in their driveways and cry every day. This Shannon Garrity person, and all the others like her, needs serious help. Of all the things in the world to stand in your driveway and cry about, a train horn should be #109,457 on the list.
Yes, let’s all help her. Whenever in Freeport, drive along this street and HONK YOUR HORNS!!! Woo hoo!
I agree. My house is just yards from the tracks and we hear the whistle all the time, even at 2 a.m. We deal. The tracks were there first and it’s just part of life.
Yeah – you could see this one coming from a mile away…Freeport – where McDonalds can’t use the speaker at the drive-through because of the town noise ordinance.
If the good people of Freeport couldn’t handle a fast-food drive through speaker, chances were pretty high a train horn was going to send them all over the edge.
But the train is saving the earth, so it’s all good.
I thought the Freeport McDonalds finally added a speaker??
What method do they use, mime, or passing notes?
they were one of the first McDonalds I’d ever seen that had a screen that showed you your order. You would just go up to the microphone and place your order, check the screen to make sure it was right, and then drive up to the window.
You reminded me of the ill-conceived outside loudspeaker greetings at Irving’s in the 90s I think it was. A disembodied voice would boom WELCOME TO IRVING! I almost dropped the gas hose a few times and complained at the time that I really didn’t need to pee myself on my way to meetings. A couple of my kids worked for Irving in those days and said it was almost 100% negative comments from customers. That soon stopped it. Useless noise is quite different to necessary noise. Who needs to be welcomed to buy gas? LOL
Now Irving is introducing video screens (with loud audio) at their gas pumps. There is a mute button on the touch screen, but if you’ve got gloves on it doesn’t work. When all the screens and speakers at all the pumps are blaring at once, it’s quite obnoxious.
Then why dont the lazy sob’s just go inside. Saves gas and the fat farmer gets a chance to get a little exercise. Drive threw should only be used by physically impaired IMHO
I grew about 30 feet from a grade crossing. We had trains at all times of the day and night blowing at the crossing. Eventually, you don’t even hear them and the residents of Freeport will reach that point.
Yes-the same happens here. We hear the whistle at all house and we usually just fall right back asleep.
You buy a house near the tracks and then complain about the noise? Sorry – but that horn is the sound of progress – hopefully in a few years you’ll be complaining about the wind from the high speed express.
Or, the sound of “wind turbines”…
Hardly the same thing! Wind turbines were not there for people to recognize the possibility of having their property seriously devalued. And to be polite, let’s not mention the blowing off of part of Mars Hill to generate profits for some nameless ones..
Just go back to the horse and buggy. Oh shucks I forgot, someone would whine because the horse crapped on the street.
A very well-written article.
Everyone’s got something to complain about…
What’s even more absolutely positively horrible? The train hitting another vehicle because it couldn’t blow the horn as warning.
This is a non story, instigated by elitist winers. Every time progress is made to help build our states economy these types come out of the wood work and make a fuss that their quality of life is suffering.
Your argument is bunk.
Quiet zones only silence the routine crossing whistles. The engineer is still allowed to sound the horn at any time if they need to warn someone.
Quiet zone railroad crossings are crossings that “should” prevent automobiles, etc. the ability to travel across the railroad tracks when there are trains approaching. Be it lane dividers or railroad crossing gates that obstruct vehicular traffic from changing lanes or going around the gates the intent is to stop all traffic from placing themselves in front of a train and possibly becoming a hood ornament on a locomotive or causing deaths. In the hundreds of miles I run as a locomotive engineer we have but one railroad crossing which is considered a quiet zone. We can’t sound the horn but we must have that bell ringing on the locomotive. We do have the option of sounding the horn if some fool decides to try to get around the protection and I’ve done that. I don’t like this one road quiet zone. It’s just too tempting for people to risk their lives when they don’t hear a train horn giving warning. That’s just how people are and behave around railroad crossings.
How do some crossings become quiet zones and others don’t?
Trains are to sound the required warning (two long, a short, a long) horn blast to warn pedestrians and vehicular traffic of an approaching train. In recent years there have been efforts by communities to silence these warnings, especially where there are multiple crossings. To my knowledge, the communities are required to purchase, install and maintain effective barriers which prevent pedestrians and vehicular traffic from encroaching on the railroad tracks when a train/trains are approaching. These barriers run from very expensive and effective to the cheap cement curb running down the center line with a sort of construction flag placed at intervals on the curb.
Cryin big tears for the whiners.
Me too, I know they all came running when it was other towns in Maine needing some help with problems. Sympathy fails to flow north it seems.
Wow “wakes you up sometimes before 6:00am” that’s just tragic! (sarcasm intended)
As someone who works a late shift and doesn’t go to bed until after midnight, that could be a problem.
I, however, chose to buy a house far away from any railroad tracks.
Drama , drama, drama. When you buy a home near the tracks, you should expect noise. Does she really cry in the driveway?? I bet that is more annoying than a train whistle, just sayin’.
Sure, let’s find something (anything) wrong with economic development. Can’t have THAT!
$6 for a pair of 25 cent ear plugs? Wow, you better shop for them someplace else.
Or are buying them for 25 cents and charging your guests $6?
I wondered about that as well. My husband is a light sleeper so wears earplugs to bed. I buy them usually in packages of five pair for about $2.
If you buy the earplugs with flanges, the nice ones anyways, can cost upwards of $20.
it says “sleep kit” so we don’t know what else is in the kit. I don’t think they are charging guests for them.
Cry me a river. You people wanted the train, knowing full well that trains have horns. How tragic that the train wakes you up. A quick search of the website shows that the AM trip leaves freeport at 720 and the PM trip arrives about 9.
Seriously? Youre going to complain because the horn sounds between 7am and 930pm? Heck, to get to work I have to wake up at 430am and sometimes dont get home til after 10pm.
And you wonder why Forbes and the Governor agree: Maine is the worst state for business.
Noise pollution is as bad as other types of pollution when it comes to quality of life.
Then don’t buy a house by the train tracks?
Should I be looking for a violin to play for them?
Come on people buying a house by the train tracks and complaining about the noise is like buying a house next to the dump and whining about the smell.
Stop your complaining
These delicate little flowers in Freeport and Brunswick who are so offended by the sound of a train are making themselves look very, very foolish.
There are numerous other towns and cities in Maine that have literally been BEGGING for train service, and would gladly accept it if it was offered to them — horns, idling, layover facility and all.
I was in Freeport a few nights ago while the train was stopped at the station. Standing outside, I didn’t find the noise bothersome at all. As the train left the station and passed through the grade crossings, the horn was blown but it wasn’t upsetting or ear-shattering or any other negative description I can think of. Any resident who finds the noise unbearable or “horrible” must be very close to the tracks… and if that’s the case, it’s their own damned fault for choosing that house.
Isnt that area considered Northern Mass??????
It’s Maine.
But mostly populated by them people they call M holes… Might as well be Northern mass.
And there are plenty of choice words for people in the rest of the state. We’re all Mainers, brother.
People in Waterville live along side the tracks on Eastern Ave. an they done complain of noise an the same in Fairfield an Benton. Theres even an old folks home on Collage ave an thats about 120 yards for the tracks an no complaints for them .
…and those folks on Eastern Ave….bet some of them were around when it was a major classification yard where the noise of switching cars happened 24/7. It’s all gone to heck since Guilford took over.
It’s a shame that the trains have to run so slowly instead of the company upgrading the rails.
YOU LIVE NEXT TO RAILROAD TRACKS!!!! THEY WERE THERE WHEN YOU BOUGHT YOUR HOUSE!!!! DIDN’T IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT THERE MIGHT BE TRAINS ON THOSE TRACKS??
Seriously though, you get used to it. I’ve lived noisy places before (near airports, near fire stations, etc). Soon you don’t even notice it.
My kids lived next to Acela when they were in college. That thing would shake you out of bed, but they barely noticed the crockery falling to the floor, and the dinner conversations would just take a brief halt, then resume. We simply must save the planet, despite the inconvenience of the “better than” crowd! (sarcasm in full on mode)
I have to turn up my record player when that stupid whistle sounds, but then it’s over.
That whistle is the sound of jobs and money. There are worse things in our world.
LOL!!! They wanted the train, now they are complaining. The Freeport climate controlers wanted to save the earth with this train.. LOL!! Funny bunch.
Not only are they complaining but they want to defeat the safety measures to create their own ambience in town. People will get run over if they don’t hear that horn!!! Get a grip!
Maybe it will get to the point that the crybabies will throw themselves under the train, one can only hope
How very Machiavellian!!
that’s retarded…they wanted a train, expect to deal with the noise. you don’t see towns like oob, saco, and even in NH on the downeaster having problems
They wanted a silent train.
Then they should have ponied up a few billion dollars for an elevated monorail.
Running the train under ground would help…..Hopefully they dont have a honk if youre horney bumpah stickah on the back….:)
Get over it Freeport, its no different than living near an airfield. The noise of a jet taking off is noisy too. After a while, it becomes second nature… Then again, if it bothers you too much, put a For Sale sign out front!
This really is true. I live near the Jetport, and the early morning departures always woke me up during the first year, but now I sleep right through them. It’s amazing what our brains can get used to if we don’t spend every waking minute obsessing over how awful something is.
People can’t stand change. If the train had been coming through for years everyone would be used to it.
I’ve lived in a city right next to a trolley line that ran all night and after a few nights it was no problem at all. I miss it now.
Awww, sad news for our other Maine friends, but you live in an urban area, so “you’re just going to have to get used to it”, isn’t that how that phrase goes? Terence? Where is Terence?
Once again we look like the third world. In other developed countries rail crossings have automated barriers. Passenger rail in Maine should be the same.
If you live next to railroad tracks, you are very likely to hear trains.
Those signal gates go for over $1 million??
The Climate Controlers begged for this train. This one Train that cost 18 millon a year to run plus all the energy. And it hauls 50 people a day each way.. The Carbon Foot print this rail service uses per person is on averge of what Al Gore uses.. Should of bought each rider a car, it would have used less energy at a cheaper cost.. TOOT!!! TOOT!!!
545,000 riders a year, about 44M passenger miles on a $6.5M operating investment. A mode of travel that improves the mobility of seniors in the oldest state in the country. Gives younger people – who are increasingly unwilling to dump money into autos – an alternative. Keeps people off Maine’s highways – roads that killed 135 people last year, including pedestrians, and injured hundreds more. Trains also decrease the pounding on our roads which are more heavily-subsidized than passenger rail.
Facts. They’re inconvenient things, aren’t they?
Actually This train is not an “alternative” at all. It is a entertainment device. It is far too expensive to be a commuter, and between Portland and Boston can serve only high-end riders.
I’m glad the train is there, but as an alternative there are cheaper ways to get to Boston.
I disagree. How much is the IRS reimbursement for car mileage? 50 cents/mile? So a round trip between Boston and Portland is $116, versus a max of $50 for a single train passenger. Buses between the two cities are roughly the same price – between $20 and $25 for Amtrak and $22 for all Concord Coach buses.
I don’t view Amtrak as a commuter train, but there are monthly passes and multi-ride passes that make the train even cheaper than what I’ve listed.
Transportation is expensive, be it cars, trains, buses, ferries, or mules.
All of your numbers are wrong.
Bring it to BANGOR!
I’d get on it. I love trains!
These people sound like a bunch of babies. Really-she stands in her driveway and cries?? With all the REAL “absolutely, positively horrible” things going on in the world, the country, and even in other parts of New England, that these people are whining about a train whistle is ridiculous.
Exactly. I wonder what she does when a noisy truck goes by, or when she spills some milk, or when she runs out of K-Cups for her Keurig? How positively dreadful! /sarcasm
So when the first car gets creamed if they institute this ridiculous policy about the horn, I hope the train company goes after those residents complaining about it. You people are unreal.
Do they allow car alarms in Freeport? I’ve never wanted to take a baseball bat to something so badly as when I hear those idiotic things going off with the headlights flashing. Or, another favorite, the noise a car makes because Her Highness has locked it. Big whoop.
I’ve seen cars sitting on the tracks waiting for traffic lights. Go check out Cooks Corner in Brunswick around 5:30pm during the week. A couple of them have gotten “creamed”. I could be wrong but there are many railroad crossings in the state that don’t even have bars that go across them let alone lights. You are suppose to stop, look, and listen. Granted those are in very rural areas, however, there are ways around this if people would stop whining and work together. How about lights but no sound. Could you really miss those big red strobe lights flashing?
I love it. They voted change and the progressive libs have it. It almost seems like the ones that have it all now , meaning all set with retirement , living,and or on a government social program don’t want things to change . They have it and the heck with any one else. The Train is a good thing and for those that don’t understand it are the ones with the problem. Hear that noise sweetheart that’s progress.. Smell that fart smell in the air ,That is working people making money for the government that supports the has beens
The train is excellent and has definitely brought additional visitors to the region. People will get used to the noise and if they really don’t like it, move. We need more trains and to extend the service to other parts of the state. This is an asset not a liability.
Hillarious, so many people wanted the train, now it makes too much noise…..Let me give you guys some tissues….
We want and need more business. We aren’t willing to concede anything for it though. We want more business as long as we aren’t put out at all because of it. Sheesh! Okay, so why can’t we have quiet time? Say from 10pm to 7am? No horn blowing allowed. Okay? Compromise people! We aren’t going to be able to entice new businesses into the area if we don’t make an effort.
The only way for the crossing to be safe would be to have gates come down that block the whole road crossing
Many years ago the sound of a train was normal, they’ll get used to it.
“who lives on West Street along the tracks”
The whole town is stuck on stupid. You live ALONG RAILROAD TRACKS! They’ve been there since before you were born.
Seriously I live by the tracks and can tell the time by the sound of the trains and their whistles/horns. It’s something I look forward to, the sound of mass transit. Get over yourselves! It is a sound of life, I suppose if you lived here you’d want mother nature to turn off the sounds of the waves crashing ashore too? Maybe you would rather see gruesome train accidents? It’s for safety’s sake you morons!
Plant some evergreen trees, invest in some new insulation or build a tall fence; they buffer the sound. OOB has trains and their hotel guests still keep coming year after year. I saw the tracks and trestle before I purchased my home and the train rolling through reassures me that life rolls on…I love trains!