Mail Tribune, Ashland, OR 9/22:
On track to find train noise solution
Since trains started running again in Ashland — and tooting horns in the wee hours of the night — many people have asked the city to do something about the racket.
At a City Council meeting Tuesday, railroad officials offered information about a hopeful compromise: the creation of “quiet zones,” as allowed by federal law, which governs what trains must do.
Citizens complained to the council that loud horns at 3 and 4 in the morning — two long, one short, one long blast at public crossings, as required by federal law — are causing serious sleep problems for hundreds of residents, and could even affect property values.
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