City wants ‘quiet zone’ for downtown trains

The city of Rock Hill’s proposal to juggle work on downtown railroad crossings is acceptable – as long as quiet doesn’t trump safety.

The city has struggled for years to find ways to minimize the disruption of train traffic, especially along the 1.4-mile stretch that runs through a residential neighborhood near downtown and then along tracks that parallel Dave Lyle Boulevard, crossing Main Street and White Street, two of downtown’s major thoroughfares.

The primary problem has been trains’ blocking those two intersections – sometimes for nearly an hour – forcing downtown traffic to divert to Black Street.

Recently, however, city officials have focused on a new annoyance: the blaring horns sounded by conductors to warn motorists as trains pass through downtown intersections. The city now might make implementing a 24-hour “quiet zone” through the downtown corridor a top priority.

A quiet zone would require trains passing through the heart of the city – from the Poe Street-Quantz Street crossing to the Main Street tracks – to keep their horns quiet. To do that, the city would have to make intersections safer, including installation of drop-down arms blocking traffic on both sides of the intersections, making warning horns unnecessary.

City officials said the intention is to improve quality of life. We suspect that a big motivating factor is the new residential construction downtown, including an apartment complex that will front directly onto Dave Lyle near the intersection with Black Street.

Potential tenants might be put off by the bone-rattling blast of train horns several times a day. Anyone who has been nearby when a conductor cuts loose with the horn knows how loud they can be.

We have no trouble with trying to establish a quiet zone along this short route. But we hope the city won’t unduly delay or shortchange projects designed to prevent trains from blocking downtown traffic and to make crossings safer and more convenient for residents of the Aragon Mill neighborhood near downtown.

The city has the $2.4 million to build a new crossing at the realigned Poe and Quantz streets, the first phase of plans drawn up by Rock Hill’s study group in 2010-11. But the city is $1.4 million short on the next phase, which calls for new traffic gates and reconfiguring a five-way stop on Community Street.

The city had planned to install a dual sidetrack between Community and Quantz streets that would help cut down on the number of stopped trains blocking intersections. But officials with Norfolk Southern Railway said its longer trains would be unable to use the sidetracks, so the city plans to reallocate the money for that project.

Part of the challenge of creating a quiet zone will be coming up with the money to install the so-called “four quadrant” gates, not only at the Community Street intersection but also at Main Street and White Street crossings to increase safety. That could cost about $1.7 million.

With so many variables to the plan, the city appears to be having trouble establishing priorities. The first priority, of course, should be safety, and it seems that the process of establishing a quiet zone could actually enhance safety.

But the city shouldn’t lose sight of the need to reduce the number of trains idling downtown and to ensure that residents of the Aragon Mill neighborhood have a safe and convenient way to get across the railroad tracks.

We hope the city can successfully juggle these different priorities, find a way to pay for them and finally develop a way to peacefully coexist with the railroad.

This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "City wants ‘quiet zone’ for downtown trains."