Railroad Quiet Zone Makes Debut in Walnut

The city of Walnut just got a bit quieter.

On Monday, a stretch of railroad crossings along Valley Boulevard bordering Walnut officially became a quiet zone. Trains heading along those tracks will no longer blow their horns at those crossings.

City officials marked the occasion with a ceremony that included cake and the unveiling of new signs, making the designation official.

The silence could not come soon enough for Walnut resident Joe Hernandez, whose home backs up to the crossing at Brea Canyon Road and Valley Boulevard. 

Hernandez first researched the idea of the quiet zone more than seven years ago, he said. He found some information about the designation from reading an article about officials in an East Coast town who had established a quiet zone and shared his research with Councilman Antonio "Tony" Cartagena, his neighbor.

"It was a real nuisance for us day and night," Hernandez said.  "I just felt something had to be done."

The 25-year resident said that when he first moved to Walnut, the trains passed by only on occasion because there was no Alameda Corridor then.

"It has changed the quality of life in Walnut," he said.  "The volume of traffic has increased tremendously."

Walnut officials have long been working on getting the quiet zone, but had little control over whether it would get done because the Union Pacific Railroad tracks are located on the City of Industry side of Valley.

City staff, along with Mayor Mary Su and Councilman Cartagena, met with former Industry Mayor Dave Perez a couple of times last year to move the project along.  They also met with current Industry Mayor Jeff Parriott about the quiet zone.

Su said getting the quiet zone in place took the efforts of many. She added that she appreciated the city staff for pushing for the project and thanked officials in Industry for getting it done.

"This is teamwork," she said. "Cooperation and teamwork are so important. This is not only for the residents of Walnut.  It's also for the people in the surrounding areas."

Representatives from the offices of county supervisors Gloria Molina and Don Knabe, Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, and U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, attended the ceremony.  A nonprofit oranization called Operation Lifesaver offered information about rail safety.

The $2 million project required the City of Industry to apply to the Federal Railroad Administration for the designation, which includes crossings at Brea Canyon Road and Valley, Old Benton Way, and Lemon and Fairway as quiet zones. The designation, which officially goes into effect Monday, means that trains coming through those crossing are prohibited from blowing their horns.

Industry started construction on the quiet zone in 2011.

Projects to ready the area slated for the designation included the addition of gates to the crossing at Fairway Drive and Lemon Avenue and the installation of raised medians at the Brea Canyon Road crossing.

Cartagena said that it was June 24, 2005 when the Federal Railroad Administration policy went into effect that gave cities and counties the green light to pursue a quiet zone designation. 

Walnut, the county, and the City of Industry began developing a plan for the improvements to the crossings needed to get the designation at that time.  Efforts to move it forward stalled for a while when the two cities disagreed on a proposed NFL stadium project in the City of Industry, Cartagena said.

The project began moving ahead again a couple of years ago, he said.

"So far today, three freight trains passed by within the quiet zone area in Walnut and no blasting of horns occurred," he said. "...As a long time resident of Walnut, councilmember, and three-time mayor for the city, I am extremely pleased, elated about the establishment of the quiet zone."