City counting on train solution
By Ben Saylor
Rocky River
Published May 21, 2008

City officials will conduct a phone conference with officials from the Federal Railroad Administration and Norfolk Southern tomorrow in an effort to resolve the ongoing issue of what train count is to be used when calculating the city’s risk index toward establishing a quiet zone.

At City Council’s May 5 meeting, Mayor Pamela Bobst said she had spoken to Ron Ries of the FRA, and that he had indicated that the per-day average is the train count to be used when calculating the risk index. If the city’s risk index is above the nationwide significant risk threshold (NSRT), it would have to implement supplemental safety measures in order to establish a quiet zone.

Bobst had previously reported at City Council’s March 10 meeting that Norfolk Southern Railway would be using a train count of eight for Rocky River’s calculations. Mackay Engineering, the city’s engineering firm, calculated the risk index with the 8-train count and found that it would put the city over the NSRT, whereas using an average number of trains —five or less — would put the city below the NSRT without implementing supplemental safety measures.

Law Director Andrew Bemer said he suggested to Bobst that she obtain a response from Ries in writing regarding the train count to give to Norfolk Southern.

However, at a recent meeting conducted at Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s office regarding the 10th anniversary of the Conrail merger and the third anniversary of the federal quiet zone rule, among other topics, Bill Harris, resident vice president of public affairs for Norfolk Southern, said that “within regulatory systems, the definition of a train may differ.”

“The monthly train counts that Norfolk Southern provides the BRL [Bay Village, Rocky River and Lakewood] communities…are through freight trains,” Harris said. “That is not the train count you use for quiet zones. The train count you use for quiet zones will be a different train count.”

Harris explained that the Norfolk Southern train count provided to the cities that were part of the 1998 agreement is a tally of through freight trains and does not include local trains, work trains or passenger trains.

Bobst reported to City Council last Monday  that she and Bemer would be holding a phone conference with Harris and Ries tomorrow in order to clarity the train count issue.

In a poll, City Council voted in 2007 to pursue a 24-hour quiet zone in Rocky River. A quiet zone means that train conductors are not obligated to blow their horns while passing through the area containing the quiet zone. The conductor still reserves the right to sound the horn in the event of an emergency, however. Moraine, Ohio, has a quiet zone, and Vermilion recently received funding toward the establishment of a quiet zone. In Bay Village, officials recently began discussing the possibility of pursuing a quiet zone for their city.

At the meeting at Kucinich’s office, Bobst acknowledged the long period of time the city and its residents have waited for a quiet zone to be established.

“They think it’s taken way too much time for us to get this point,” Bobst said.