Comments

I live close to the RR crossing in Brenham. People must understand that the RR has been in Brenham much longer than some of the businesses and homes. It is not going away.

Why don't we do like other towns. We have a noise ordinance in Brenham. When the train operator exceeds the noise level give them a ticket. It is not like they can get away.

K.D.

Brenham

While everyone else cannot seem to stand a train horn (that could potentially save their lives one day), I personally enjoy it. While my house back home was located over a mile from the tracks(with a stretch of interstate running in between the house and the tracks), my family and I could still hear the train when the wind blew in the right direction; it reminds me of home; a wonderful concept to a first-year over-stressed young adult taking eighteen hours of classes a week (which is the maximum number of hours allotted at Blinn, possibly due to stress-related reasons). Half of the time, I do not even hear it.

While my opinion to the train noise may seem ridiculous in comparison to the rest of the complaints, I am human after all. The city library back home used to be an old train station. I can remember the first time I checked out a book there; the window panes rattling, the ground shaking, and the excruciatingly deafening noise, thus I can sympathize with the residents who hold property next to the tracks, but should the library complain? My home town is so small that should the city accommodate a potential quiet zone for the library to appease the patrons, the entire town would be in danger as our crossing guards sometimes malfunction.

So, do away with the train horn in Brenham, but keep the crossing guards? Unfortunately, crossing guards in their own right are not completely fail-proof; the horn serves as a back up. Why not sign a petition to get rid of the stop signs along with the train horn? This is how much of a safety hazard this petition could possibly create, not to mention lawsuits against the city for having aesthetic “quiet zones”, favoring the minority of people who live close to the tracks over the majority of drivers, both of permanent residency and passers-through, who have to cross the tracks each day.

K.O.

Blinn College campus

I have been complaining to my godson for over 2 years - each time I stay at his home in Brenham. My husband and I are "new Texans" retiring at Canyon Lake - which is very quiet. We really enjoy Brenham and our visits, but I am always so happy to come home as I never get a good nights sleep while there.

When my godson asks me how I slept I say fine except at 11:30PM, 1:30AM, 3:30AM , 5:30AM and any other time the train arrives and MUST blow the whistle - I think the one around 3:30AM - is the longest!!!!

I am for quite zones, near the towns.

J.K.

Canyon Lake

www.theeagle.com/local/Resident-petitioning-for-quiet

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I own a business that is right on the rail line that runs through Brenham. The train horns are very disruptive to our business. You cannot talk to a customer on the phone inside of the office while the train is approaching our business. If you are outside, the noise is painful.

I have been told that the city already meets all legal requirement to institute a quite zone, but no one wants to take responsibility for someone getting hit by a train, hence all of the extra costs to install extra safety measures above the required ones which are already in place.

Should we install cross arms and additional safety measures at every red light? If you run a red light and get injured or killed, it is your own fault. There is more of a case for having those measures at every red light because you might injure or kill some innocent person. That is not likely to happen if you drive around a railroad crossarm and get hit by a train.

Brenham meets the legal requirements to institute a quite zone and I think that we should do so without further expense.
J.E.
W. 1st St.

www.brenhambanner.com/articles/2010/01/02/news/news01.txt

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I do not know how anyone who lives in the town of Brenham can stand all the noise from the train horns. We live in Pecan Glen, out of the city limits, and we can hear the horn INSIDE OF OUR HOUSE. As a matter of fact, it is Jan. 2, 2010 at 7:08 PM and I just heard the blasting horn of a passing train! We have a brick, double pane windows, well insulated home and we can still hear this noise. I feel sorry for all living closer to the tracks. I can only imagine how aggravating it must be for them. Hopefully, one day soon the train noise in Brenham will stop!
P.V.
Pecan Glen

I live right by the train behind Brookshire Brothers. It is so annoying especially when you're sitting outside on your porch trying to drink your morning coffee or visit and talk outside with visitors or family. It's ridiculous because it comes by so much! Hope to make a change!

A.D.
North Austin St.

Since every grade crossing in Brenham is already protected with gates and lights . . . what purpose does the sounding of train horns serve? Most drivers stop when they see a lowered railroad gate. So what does all that noise really accomplish?

All the horns do is make it easier for a few foolish people to drive around lowered gates without being hit by a train.

Is it right that a sizable segment of Brenham's population should have to put up with 100+ decibel assaults on their eardrums, thirty times a day, just to keep reckless drivers from being hurt? Is it right for the city to spend $230,000 to keep those people safe--people who are deliberately circumventing existing safety measures?

Wayside horns are proposed for the Jackson Street grade crossing. Their cost makes up over half of the total amount the city proposes spending on supplemental safety measures at 9 grade crossings in the proposed quiet zone. Although wayside horns are much less intrusive than train horns, they too will serve no reasonable purpose.

People who are now stopping at lowered gates will continue to do so when the train horns are silenced. People who drive around the gates now will no doubt continue to do that, if they are able to. If the city really wants to stop the drive-arounds, it needs to install physical barriers. If it doesn't care about the drive-arounds, it should simply apply for a quiet zone with the grade crossing safety features as they are now.

In either case, Brenham should not have to put up with the outrageous and unnecessary noise of train horns.
C.D.
College Ave.

I've been asked why I bought a home near the railroad if I don't like the train noise. It's a reasonable question, though it does reveal a simplistic view of the noise problem in Brenham.

I bought this property because I loved the house. Nothing else like it was available in the area at the time I was purchasing. I've lived here now for almost 9 years and I still love my home . . . and the neighborhood. I'd like to be able to have a conversation with my neighbors without having to stop and hold my ears every time a train goes by.

C.D.
College Ave.