Friday, March 31, 2000 (Washington, DC ) Federal Railroad Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris today announced that there will be a public hearings in Illinois and Ohio on a proposed rulemaking and draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) concerning the use of locomotive train horns at highway-rail grade crossings.

This hearing will give the public an opportunity to provide oral presentations on the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and DEIS.

The agency is also holding public hearings in California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Oregon.

FRA officials stressed that persons wishing to provide oral testimony at the public hearings should notify FRA’s docket clerk at the following mailing address or e-mail address at least three working days before the hearing: Docket Clerk, Office of Chief Counsel, Federal Railroad Administration MS-10, 1120 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. The e-mail address for the FRA docket clerk is renee.bridgers@fra.dot.gov

The rule, proposed in January by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FRA, was written in response to a law enacted by Congress in 1994 requiring train horns be sounded when a train approaches and enters a public highway-rail grade crossing unless. Congress gave FRA the authority to exempt categories of rail operations or categories of highway rail grade crossing if there is not a significant risk of death or personal injury, the use of the horn is impractical, or supplementary measures fully compensate for the absence of the warning provided by the horn.

The proposed rule describes the safety measures that a community may employ to fully compensate for the absence of the warning provided by the horn and establish a quiet zone. These measures include the use of four quadrant gates, channelization devices or crossing closures at highway-rail crossings or photo enforcement to deter violators. The rule also proposes an upper volume limit for train horns.