[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5059]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              TRAIN WHISTLES TO DISRUPT MILLIONS OF LIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to highlight a serious 
problem that all of America will soon experience. As early as next 
January, thousands of cities, towns, villages, and hamlets will be 
deafened by the wail of a train whistle. That is right, if the Federal 
Railroad Administration's proposed rule on the sounding of locomotive 
horns at every highway crossing goes into effect as planned, the 
earsplitting sounds of train whistles will wake people at night and 
generally disrupt people's lives.
  Unfortunately, few Members of Congress know about the problem that 
confronts us. As mandated by the Swift Rail Act of 1994, the FRA came 
up with rules on train horns, and in January the FRA came out with a 
proposed rule.
  While I understand that the rule is intended to save people's lives, 
the way in which the rule was written will severely impact millions of 
people in a negative way. For instance, although the FRA states that 
over 74,000 people in Illinois currently living near a crossing that 
does not allow whistle-blowing will be severely impacted by this rule, 
in reality, according to the Chicago Area Transportation Study, 2.5 
million residents in Illinois live within one quarter mile of a 
crossing, and would be severely impacted.
  This is a tremendous number of people that will be impacted by train 
whistles that range from 92 decibels to 144 decibels, an unhealthy 
level that rises above the threshold of pain.
  So what can be done about this rule? I and other Members of the 
Illinois delegation could argue that Illinois, and specifically 
Chicago, should have an exception from the FRA's rule because Illinois 
has done a good job in reducing accidents at crossings.
  In northeastern Illinois, injuries have declined by 70 percent and 
fatalities have declined by 65 percent since 1988. During the same 
period of time, the number of incidents dropped. Train traffic and 
average motor vehicle miles have both increased by 45 percent. Clearly, 
Illinois has been doing a good job with a tough assignment, and they 
should be allowed to continue with their rail safety program.
  But what if this rule does go into effect? In order to avoid the 
disruption of the whistles, money is needed to implement alternatives 
to whistle blowing, money that local communities do not have. The FRA 
estimates costs of $116 million for whistle ban communities based on 
assumptions that every community will install the lowest-cost 
alternative to whistles.
  The Chicago Area Transportation Study estimates the cost of reality-
based alternatives to be between $440 million and $590 million for 
whistle ban communities across the Nation. This is a huge amount of 
money that our local communities simply do not have, and they will turn 
to their Congressmen to help them find the funding.
  So I say to my colleagues, join me and others in finding a solution 
that is available to everyone. Let us work on this rule so crossings 
could be made safer and so people can go along with their lives in a 
livable manner.
  At the very least, let us increase the amount of money going to grade 
crossings by passing my rail safety bill, H.R. 2060, that will double 
the amount of money that DOT gives to States for grade crossing safety. 
Because when next January rolls around, we had better be prepared for 
the train that is coming down the track for all of us.

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