HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4.B 10/17/2017DATE: October 17, 2016
Agenda Item #4.B
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council through City Manager
FROM: Dan St. John, F.ASCE — Director, Public Works & Utilities
Curtis M. Bates, P.E., City Engineer
SUBJECT: Resolution Authorizing the Filing of a Notice of Intent with the Federal Railroad
Administration, California Public Utilities Commission, Sonoma Marin Area Rail
Transit, North Western Pacific Railroad Company and North Coast Rail Authority
to Establish a Quiet Zone in Petaluma City Limits from Corona Road to Caulfield
Lane
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a Resolution Authorizing the Filing of a Notice of
Intent with the Federal Railroad Administration, California Public Utilities Commission, Sonoma
Marin Area Rail Transit, North Western Pacific Railroad Company and North Coast Rail
Authority to Establish a Quiet Zone in Petaluma City Limits from Corona Road to Caulfield
Lane.
BACKGROUND
The City Council held a public workshop on Railroad Quiet Zones at its October 3, 2016
meeting. At that meeting, City staff, a representative from the Federal Rail Administration and a
representative from Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) presented an overview of
railroad quiet zones and answered City Council questions. The City Council took public
comment, discussed the quiet zone issue, and requested that a resolution to file a Notice of Intent
to establish a quiet zone within Petaluma be made available for Council action as soon as
possible.
As addressed at the workshop, SMART and the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) in
conjunction with the North Western Pacific Railroad (NWPRR) are the current rail operators in
Petaluma. SMART is currently testing trains and rail system components in Petaluma and
throughout the rail corridor, and is expected to commence passenger service in December 2016.
Final Rule: In 2005, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) established rules regarding train
horns, entitled, "Final Rule on Use of Locomotive Horns at Highway -Rail Grade Crossings ".
Commonly known as the "Train Horn Final Rule ", train horns are now required to sound at
highway grade crossings, including City street railroad crossings. Contained in this rule, is a
provision for local jurisdictions to manage the use of train horns through the creation of "Quiet
Zones."
In general, a quiet zone is defined as a section of rail line one -half mile in length that contains
one or more consecutive public crossings within which blowing of locomotive horns is
prohibited except in certain circumstances. Even in a designated quiet zone, the locomotive
engineer may sound the train horn to provide warning if he or she has determined such action is
warranted for safety purposes. Therefore, a quiet zone is not entirely quiet and could be better
defined as a "no regular use of train horn" zone. A quiet zone is specific to the use of a train horn
and does not include other railroad induced noises such as engine braking, engine noise, grade
crossing bells and lights, or noise and vibration from rail joints.
DISCUSSION
Quiet Zone Safety Requirements: The FRA has established that the absence of a train horn may
add some risk of incidents at grade crossings. To establish a quiet zone, the local jurisdiction
must evaluate the risk at each railroad crossing and identify additional safety measures required
to counter balance the risk that may be caused by the elimination of the train horn, taking into
consideration grade crossing geometry, traffic volume and collision history. The FRA has
established a risk calculator to help local jurisdictions through this evaluation by calculation of a
Quiet Zone Risk Index (QZRI). The QZRI is a measure against the National Significant Risk
Threshold (NSRT) and Risk Index with Horns (RIWH) to determine what level of additional
safety measures would be required to meet the minimum criteria for establishing a quiet zone.
The RIWH is the average risk level at a crossing in a proposed quiet zone that would exist if a
train were blowing its horn. In both cases, it is required that at least one of the crossings in the
quiet zone has supplemental safety measures. Not all quiet zone intersections require additional
safety measures above the minimal at -grade crossing standards established by the FRA. If the
QZRI is equal to or lower than the NSRT or RIWH, then no further safety measures are required.
Under the Final Rule guidelines, new quiet zones require crossings to be equipped with flashing
lights, bells and automatic gates, and to have modern signal features like power outage indicators
and constant warning time devices, a feature that ensures a consistent period of warning time for
both slower moving freight trains and faster commuter trains. SMART has constructed these
devices at all public grade crossings throughout the entire Sonoma -Marin rail corridor, including
the City limits of Petaluma.
SMART has installed a combination of supplemental safety measures (SSM's) and /or alternative
safety measures (ASM's) at each grade crossing. SSM's include four - quadrant gate systems,
medians, or channelization devices that physically separate traffic, or one -way streets with gates.
These measures will help support an establishment of a quiet zone. Each measure is designed to
prevent vehicles, bikes and pedestrians from going around lowered gates at crossings, which is a
common cause of grade crossing incidents. ASM's typically include a median on one side of the
crossing with a gate on the other side. These measures are often installed at grade crossings that
have specific constraints, such as a driveway or intersection on one side of the grade crossing,
which precludes the use of a median.
2
Construction and Maintenance of Affected Crossings: The City of Petaluma has eight public at-
grade railroad crossings and one private crossing at Cedar Grove. The private Cedar Grove
crossing is controlled by SMART with a locked gate and does not need to be considered in the
quiet zone per FRA requirements. The City public grade crossings, from north to south, are as
follows:
- Corona Road
- North McDowell Boulevard
- Southpoint Boulevard
- Payran Street
- Lakeville Street
- East Washington Street at Lakeville Street
- Lakeville Street at D Street
- Caulfield Lane
The City of Petaluma performed a final verification diagnostic audit with CPUC, FRA and
SMART staff on September 13, 2016 to verify installed SSM's and ASM's. The results of the
final verification visit concluded that three of the grade crossings, Corona Road, North
McDowell Boulevard, and Payran Street, have sufficient supplemental safety measures installed.
The five other intersections have varying supplemental and alternate safety measures installed.
FRA and City staff used the FRA risk calculator to determine the City's eligibility for a quiet
zone. The risk calculator primarily considers type of warning devices, train speed, traffic
volumes and whether sufficient SSM's have been installed in order to calculate the associated.
risk. The results of the calculator indicated that Petaluma's risk index is a total 44,634.88. The
Risk Index with Horns (RIWH) threshold is 77,971.64 and the Nationwide Significant Risk
Threshold (NSRT) threshold is 14,347. In order to be quiet zone eligible, the City's risk index
must be less than either the RIWH or NSRT thresholds. Based on the Quiet Zone Calculator, the
City of Petaluma is eligible for a quiet zone because the City's risk index for the improved,
existing grade crossings is less than the RIWH. It should also be noted that the calculated RIWH
for the eight grade crossings were determined to be below the RIWH threshold at each crossing.
SMART will be the entity to maintain signal related safety measures such as railroad gates
within its right of way or operating area. The City of Petaluma is responsible for maintaining
centerline medians, advance signage and pavement markings within City right of way.
Process to Establish a Quiet Zone: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is the
State oversight agency and works with the FRA to require a diagnostic review for every crossing
within a potential quiet zone to determine compliance. The diagnostic review is intended to assist
the local jurisdiction in devising the best plan for quiet zone implementation. The process of
establishing a quiet zone begins when a local agency files a Notice of Intent with the CPUC and
applicable rail entities. The notice describes the length of quiet zone, which crossings are to be
included, and existing and proposed safety measures. The CPUC and rail entities have sixty days
to comment on the Notice of Intent.
Once the CPUC has verified the information provided, the FRA has approved the quiet zone, and
the necessary safety measures have been installed at all grade crossings; the local agency can
issue a Notice of Establishment, which includes the following items:
- Diagnostic review conclusions
- Proposed time period of horn restriction (could be 24 hours per day or partials)
- List of public, private and pedestrian only crossings in quiet zones
- Specific regulatory citation for the basis of quiet zone establishment
- Complete inventory for each public, private and pedestrian crossing before and after the
necessary safety measures are installed
- Copy of Notice of Intent previously submitted
The Notice of Establishment is sent to the FRA, all applicable railroads, Caltrans, any other local
governments affected, and any private property owners affected by private grade crossings. All
railroad trains will cease routinely sounding horns at grade crossings within 21 days except at
operator's discretion for safety purposes. Once the Notice of Intent is filed, it is anticipated to
take three to six months to complete all necessary steps to create the quiet zone.
SMART has released its tentative train - operating schedule with the earliest weekday train
arriving at Petaluma's downtown station at approximately 5:25 AM and the latest weekday train
departing at 8:00 PM. On weekends, the earliest arrival is at 8:39 AM and the latest train departs
at 9:11 PM. The full schedule is listed in Attachment 4.
The attached resolution authorizing City staff to file a Notice of Intent to establish a quiet zone in
Petaluma, with further authorization to subsequently file a Notice of Establishment with the
necessary rail authorities, is provided for Council consideration and was prepared based on the
feedback received from the City Council and community members during the October 3, 2016
workshop.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
SMART has funded installation of additional safety measures required to make Petaluma's grade
crossings quiet zone eligible. Long -term signage, striping and pavement legend maintenance will
be budgeted in street maintenance enterprise funds. The proposed action to establish a quiet zone
does not have an impact on the existing City budget, other than the staff resources involved in
analysis of the issue and preparation of materials associated with the item.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Draft Resolution
2. Map of Petaluma Grade Crossings
3. FRA Quiet Zone Calculator Exhibit
S
Attachment 1
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF A NOTICE OF INTENT WITH THE
FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES
COMMISSION, SONOMA MARIN AREA RAIL TRANSIT, NORTH WESTERN
PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY AND NORTH COAST RAIL AUTHORITY TO
ESTABLISH A QUIET ZONE IN PETALUMA CITY LIMITS FROM CORONA ROAD
TO CAULFIELD LANE
WHEREAS, the Petaluma City Council held a public workshop to take public comment
and discuss railroad quiet zones on October 3, 2016; and
WHEREAS, the Federal Railroad Administration established the "Train Horn Rule" (49
CFR 222 -229) in 2005; and
WHEREAS, the "Train Horn Rule" places the responsibility on local jurisdictions to
implement supplemental safety measures, alternative safety measures and establish quiet zones;
and
WHEREAS, there are eight (8) public highway - railroad grade crossings and one (1)
private railroad grade crossing within Petaluma City limits; and
WHEREAS, upon approval of the City of Petaluma's quiet zone application materials by
the Federal Rail Administration, the City will file a Notice of Establishment of the Quiet Zone.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of
Petaluma has determined it's desire to establish a quiet zone within Petaluma City limits and
hereby authorizes the City Manager or designee to file a Notice of Intent with the Federal
Railroad Administration, California Public Utilities Commission, Sonoma Marin Area Rail
Transit, North Western Pacific Railroad Company and North Coast Rail Authority to establish a
quiet zone within Petaluma City limits from Corona Road to Caulfield Lane.
Attachment 2
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