FRA revokes Utah's railroad 'quiet zones' along the Wasatch Front
Blow Your Horn
By Benjamin Wood @BjaminWood
Residents of the Wasatch Front can expect to hear more train horns—day and night—after maintenance failures led the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) to revoke 16-year-old "Quiet Zone" status at Utah's surface crossings.
In a joint statement released Tuesday, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Union Pacific (UP) confirmed that cities between Ogden and Provo—an area that includes Salt Lake City—had fallen out of compliance with FRA safety regulations, requiring both freight and passenger train operators to sound their horns at all hours of the day.
"Rail safety is critical—it only takes seconds for tragedy to strike," the statement noted. "Union Pacific and Utah Transit Authority’s compliance of horn sounding keeps people safe in areas where things like striping, signage, curbing and other enhanced safety measures by applicant cities do not meet FRA quiet zone standards."
UTA spokesman Gavin Gustafson reiterated to City Weeklythat UTA and UP are willing to provide what assistance they can to cities as they endeavor to become compliant. But he reiterated that road and crossing maintenance falls under the jurisdiction of municipal governments, and he was unable to identify where the problem areas are located, or how many out-of-compliance crossings there are.
"If the quiet zone is lifted, we have to blow the horn," Gustafson said. "That's not a judgment call."
In Salt Lake County, the Frontrunner and UP rights-of-way are largely located in west side communities and have long caused residents there to be divided from their east-side counterparts. Freight trains can stretch beyond a mile, with rail activities leading to daily road closures, sometimes for an hour or more.
Recent years have seen the launch of a citizen-led effort known as the Rio Grande Plan, which proposes to reduce the number of surface crossings by burying passenger and freight lines in an underground "train box." While Salt Lake City has studied the proposal, there are no current plans to implement it, or to close any of the city's many at-grade crossings. In the meantime, east-west streets and non-driving connections like the 9-Line and Folsom trails see users routinely impeded from travel by stopped trains.
The change in quiet zone status came in response to application renewals being handled by Lehi and Woods Cross on behalf of their Wasatch Front sister cities. Andrew Wittenberg, spokesman for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, said it is not yet known how many crossings were deemed insufficient by the FRA or in which cities those crossings are located.
"We didn’t have any advance knowledge," he said.
In their joint statement, UTA and UP said that operators will return to no-horn passage through Wasatch Front cities once federal regulators deem it permissible to do so.
"As cities determine how they respond to the FRA findings, UTA and Union Pacific must instruct our operators to sound horns every time we cross these areas," they said. "When the cities receive compliance approval again from the FRA, freight and commuter trains will resume quiet zone protocols. "
About The Author
Benjamin Wood
Lifelong Utahn Benjamin Wood has worn the mantle of City Weekly's news editor since 2021. He studied journalism at Utah State University and previously wrote for The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and Entertainment Weekly
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