GREAT FALLS — Train horns are a familiar sound across Great Falls, sometimes cutting through neighborhoods during the day and overnight.
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For residents living or working near railroad crossings, opinions on that noise vary.
One Great Falls resident who asked not to be identified said living near the tracks has made the sound familiar, but nighttime horns can still catch people off guard.
“I live in this neighborhood, so I’m used to it,” the resident said. “But yeah, it can be loud and unexpected at night. ... But I suppose they serve a purpose.”
Several other people MTN spoke with off camera described the train noise as bothersome and questioned how long the horns can sound.
Great Falls resident Heather Morrow offered a more measured perspective.
“Generally it’s fine,” Morrow said. “I think it’s only really loud, like in the morning, and you’re not expecting it. Otherwise, it’s not too terrible.”
Regardless of how residents feel about the noise, train horns at public highway-rail grade crossings are federally required.
The Federal Railroad Administration requires engineers to begin sounding the horn at least 15 seconds, but no more than 20 seconds, before a train reaches a public crossing. A “good faith” exception allows the warning to begin up to 25 seconds beforehand when the train’s arrival time at the crossing cannot be precisely estimated.
The FRA says the standard horn pattern is two long blasts, one short blast and another long blast. Federal regulations require locomotive horns to operate between 96 and 110 decibels.
BNSF says its trains operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, moving freight through the national supply chain. The railroad says engineers can also use the horn when they perceive hazards involving people, vehicles or animals near the tracks.
Could Great Falls become quieter?
Federal regulations provide a process for communities to establish designated quiet zones.
In a qualifying quiet zone, trains do not routinely sound their horns at designated crossings after federal safety requirements have been met. However, a quiet zone does not guarantee silence. Engineers can still sound horns in emergency situations or when another hazard requires a warning.
BNSF says communities have other options for reducing train-horn noise, including closing unnecessary crossings or replacing street-level crossings with overpasses or underpasses. The railroad says decisions involving new roads or overpasses are fundamentally local discussions between communities and the authorities responsible for those roads.
