Quiet Zone delays should finally come to an end Thanksgiving weekend

Ian Anderson | Downtown News

A new target date has been set for the long-awaited implementation of a railway Quiet Zone in San Diego. After many missed deadlines over the last several months, the new date is now Friday, Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving.

If all goes according to plan, effective that date, train conductors will no longer be required by law to sound a 100 decibel horn as trains pass through roadway intersections ranging from Little Italy to the Embarcadero, often in the middle of the night.

After numerous delays had already pushed back this start date more than six months, officials overseeing the project had been hoping to wrap up it up in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. However, before final inspections were performed by city engineers last week, a routine city road maintenance crew disabled the in-ground sensors installed to direct some crossings’ automated signal activity.

Once these last minute issues have been resolved, a Notice of Quiet Zone Establishment will be sent to all necessary agencies, thus initiating a 21-day waiting period before twelve San Diego rail crossings will officially be free of the train whistle mandate, which has plagued local residents for well more than a decade.

The new Quiet Zone rules will affect up to 36 regularly scheduled trains during the day, but the greatest impact will be noticed at night, when freight trains pass through town, sounding horns for minutes at a time between 12 and 4 a.m., disrupting sleep for thousands of San Diego residents throughout Little Italy and Downtown, and as far away as Golden Hill.

Civic San Diego (CivicSD, formerly CCDC), the city’s nonprofit redevelopment corporation overseeing the 20-million dollar project, had previously announced a start date in mid-October, amending previous projections of early September and others dating back to mid-Spring.

Delays have been attributed to a construction schedule limited by traffic-heavy summer events such as Padres home games and ComicCon. However, the complications of interagency cooperation required for this undertaking may have ultimately proven too high a bureaucratic hurdle to complete it expediently.

Establishing the Quiet Zone required the cooperation of no fewer than six rail organizations, in addition to city, state and federal agencies, utilities and engineers. Scott Johnson, a CivicSD representative managing daily operations, said a mid-October inspection involved representatives of San Diego’s Field Engineering services; West Coast General, the contracting firm hired to the work; and a rail construction consulting firm, Rail Pros.

That walkthrough revealed what Johnson called “a few punch-list items with the signage and striping” required to comply with the federal guidelines outlining the safety mechanisms required to qualify for Quiet Zone designation. Also at issue was the proper placement of signs indicating to drivers and pedestrians what to do and who to call in case of emergency due to signal failure or blockage on the tracks.

The final inspection was rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 2, at which point CivicSD intended to “chase down” San Diego COO Jay Goldstone for his signature required to deliver the Notice of Establishment, effective that day. Johnson said there is one potential “wild card” that could add another delay; whether city construction crews return the in-ground sensors to working order in time.

Gary Smith, president of a local residents organization that has been trying to silence the trains for 18 years, will not be holding his breath for this final obstacle to be cleared by Thanksgiving weekend.

“I’ll believe it when I have the Notice of Establishment in my hands,” he said.

Ian Anderson is an author and reporter, who has published books about e-commerce and the environment, and written articles on food, music, community events and politics. He can be reached at penforhire@gmail.com.