Yes, the train noise was so loud and for such a long duration that our entire family was kept up late into the night, past midnight. This should not be permitted unless there is a true emergency.

I agree. We live behind the Masonic Temple at least 1/2 mile away and the trains are always so loud, waking up our little kids. The ongoing horns are especially irritating.

The noise was horrible, over and over and over and I live over a mile away near Braddock. Woke us all up. How is this legal?

The horns kept us up in the Bren Mar Park area. Why exactly do they have to blow their horns that frequently in the middle of the night?

Your complaints have been reported to the Transportation and Environmental Services Department for review and a response.

Sincerely,
Elaine Scott
City Of Alexandria
Communications/Public Information
703.746.4317

Apparently CSX, VRE or Amtrak were performing track maintenance which according to the information I received, requires them to slow the training and continuously sound the whistle. The building I live in (next door to the portion of track) says the area has been designated a safety zone and FRA has, in the past, refused to designate it a 'quiet zone'.

The company doing the maintenance insists on doing the work after midnight since the trains are no long utilizing the track as much. This should end when they have completed the work but even the 4 whistles done during regular night time hours are very disruptive.

From someone familiar with the problem -
"FRA regulations mandate the continuous whistling many of us heard over the past couple nights while personnel are on or near adjacent tracks. There was a large crew of maintenance personnel renewing the wood ties on the track adjacent to the one the train was passing. For safety reasons, they are required to do that. I see that they are nearly complete in our area so I don't think it'll go on much longer.

http://www.fra.dot.gov/Pages/1773.shtml
See the section regarding "Quiet Zone Exceptions": Under federal regulations, engineers must sound the horn to warn railroad maintenance employees or contractors working on the tracks.

Regarding the short sounds we hear throughout the day, trains, (metro included) are also mandated to sound a whistle when entering or exiting a tunnel, approaching a crossing, or approachign a station which is the case for the yellow line to the building's north. "

This was the second night in a row. Call CSX to report the issue at 1-800-232-0144 (sadly only staffed during normal business hours). It's their freight trains.

They are already starting again tonight. This area won't have slept in 3 nights.

I called the complaint line for CSX: 1-800-232-0144 and spoke with a
representative who said that they are doing track work from Alexandria
to Woodbridge and FRA regulations (See
http://www.fra.dot.gov/Pages/1773.shtml) require them to sound the
horn as they approach and move through areas where there are workers.
I explained that I understood what the regulations provide and that
they need to sound the horn for safety, but the duration of the horn
blasts is excessive and not required by any law. She took down my
information and said that they had received a lot of other complaints.
She also said that, unfortunately, there is not anything the can (or
will) do about it. Also, you can try to make a complaint
online at: http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about-csx/contact-us/tellcsx/?ci=3&ii=4,
but when I tried the site froze and crashed my browser.

This is getting to be a real problem, and perhaps if they hear from
enough people they'll tell their engineers to lay off the horns a bit.

The City of Alexandria is aware of this issue. Unfortunately, the City has no authority to alter and or influence the sounding of horns for rail operations. These are safety based operations and due to interstate commerce regulations are not controlled by local governments. The City contacted CSX and was informed that it recently started a maintenance project to replace crossties and surface track between Alexandria and Woodbridge, and train horns are a result of federal safety requirements for such work. This work is being done between the hours of 8:30 pm and 4:30 am on Sunday through Thursday nights. The entire project will end on November 1, 2012. If you would like information about federal requirements for train horns, you may visit the Federal Railroad Administration’s website at www.fra.dot.gov or if you wish to express your concerns to CSX, they can be contacted at 1.877.835.5279 or you may submit an online complaint at http://www.csx.com/index.cfm/about-csx/contact-us/tellcsx/?ci=3&ii=4.

City of Alexandria

They seem to now ring the bell during night hours.