What can be done about trains that rattle through Litchfield, blasting their whistles to the annoyance of some residents?

Turns out, not much. Unless the city wants to spend a great deal of money.

Litchfield City Council discussed noisy trains during its meeting Monday.

Council member Connie Lies, who agreed that the whistles — especially late at night — can be a nuisance, told her fellow members that she understood the cost of setting up a railroad “quiet zone” can be exorbitant. The process also can be a lengthy one.

Lies explained that railroad crossings in a quiet zone would have to be equipped with gates that would completely block the crossing, unlike the crossing arms that block only the lane of oncoming traffic. Installing gates could be as much as $250,000 per crossing. With at least four crossings in Litchfield residential areas, that cost could be $1 million or more.

City Administrator Bruce Miller said there may be other alternatives, but agreed the costs could be high.

For council member Gary Walz, there was a greater concern than cost. “The whistles are for safety,” he said. “If you do away with those, I just don’t think that would be the right thing to do.”
Still, council member Larry Dahl said it seems that train whistles are overdone at times.

“It seems when they come...do they have to blow seven times at each crossing?” Dahl asked.

Despite his concern about nuisance whistles, Dahl agreed that with the high cost of a quiet zone, “I think we’ll put up with the whistles a little while longer.”

By Brent Schacherer, editor