COLLEYVILLE -- The sound of train horns may be a distant memory in Colleyville by the time a planned TEX Rail commuter line begins rolling through town, possibly by 2016.
The city and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority have reached an agreement to create quiet zones along the old Cotton Belt railroad line at the Bransford Road, Pleasant Run Road and John McCain Road crossings before the passenger service begins.Trains may pass through quiet zones without blowing their horns as long as the crossings are built to meet federal safety guidelines. Such zones typically have quad crossing gates, raised curbs and other elements that prevent motor vehicles from driving through the intersection to beat an oncoming train while gates are down and lights are flashing.The city and the T have enough money to build the $1.8 million project in their budgets for fiscal 2013, which begins in October.Designing the zones will begin in the fall, and construction likely will be complete in a year or two, officials said."The expectation in Colleyville is that the quad gates are put in place before the commuter rail comes through," city spokeswoman Mona Gandy said. Today, the rail line typically carries a handful of freight trains per day as well as the Grapevine Vintage Railroad excursion train.The city was awarded a $1.44 million federal grant to build the quiet zones; it then asked the T for help with construction. The T, which oversees the TEX Rail project, will arrange contracting the quiet zones' construction and chip in the $359,000 local match, an arrangement the T board approved last month.The Federal Railroad Administration and Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the agency that owns the Cotton Belt tracks, must also sign off on the project for it to begin.'Not in the business'Squelching train horns is a priority for Colleyville residents, many of whom oppose transit and ago persuaded the City Council several years ago to remove a station in their city from the TEX Rail plan. As it stands, TEX Rail would be a 37-mile line from southwest Fort Worth that would pass through Colleyville en route to Grapevine and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Trains would not stop in Colleyville.Some T board members have previously said they opposed spending money on quiet zones in a city that fought the project."We're not in the business of making Colleyville quieter," board Chairman Gary Cumbie said last year during a budget workshop.But T President Dick Ruddell convinced board members that it was a good value to take Colleyville's offer to cover 80 percent of the quiet zone cost with a federal grant. Other TEX Rail crossings will eventually have quiet zones, but the T may have to foot the entire cost.Overall, the TEX Rail project is estimated to cost $758 million, and the T has applied for a transit grant to offset $415 million."We decided we need to put quiet zones in all our crossings, even in cities that don't belong to the T," Ruddell said.Colleyville is known mainly as a residential city, though it has substantial commercial developments in a handful of areas, especially along Texas 26 near the railroad tracks.Protests, outrageThe city has a rich railroad history, some of it preserved in Bransford Park, a tiny residential green space where an old section foreman's house and red caboose are displayed.But little about life today in the Northeast Tarrant County residential enclave reflects that heritage. In the past four years, residents have vocally protested TEX Rail and expressed outrage that owners of expensive homes near the tracks essentially can't prevent the project from passing through the city.An environmental study of the entire project released in 2008 concluded that more than 1,000 homes, businesses and other properties would experience moderate to severe noise because of commuter rail service. But the study also said the problem could be fixed by creating quiet zones at up to 70 crossings.From 50 feet away, blaring train horns are more than twice as noisy as jackhammers, a consultant told residents during a 2008 meeting.And a few homes near the tracks in Colleyville may need sound insulation, officials have said.Gordon Dickson, 817-390-7796Twitter: @gdicksonHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
