Caltrain Quiet Zone project

Project typeTraffic and transportation

Bicyclists waiting for Caltrain train at an at grade crossing

The City is evaluating and designing improvements at the at grade street crossings of the Caltrain railroad to enable establishment of a quiet zone. A quiet zone must have concurrence from the California Public Utilities Commission and approval by the Federal Railroad Administration. When a quiet zone is established, trains are no longer required to blow their horns at each crossing, however railroad engineers will continue to blow their horn when they identify a risk on or near the railroad, such as someone illegally crossing when the gates are down.

Planning

The planning phase of the quiet zone project was conducted jointly with the City of Palo Alto and is now complete. This phase included evaluation of the crossings, development of concepts, and outreach. This work has been documented in an implementation plan(PDF, 4MB).

On April 25, 2023, the City Council provided direction to staff to pursue design of railroad gate improvements at Ravenswood Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue to facilitate implementation of a quiet zone (staff report). The planning phase identified that installing four quadrant gates at these two crossings would enable the City to establish a quiet zone at all crossings.

Design

The City is working with Caltrain to develop engineering designs for four quadrant gates at Ravenswood Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue. This work was initiated in September 2023 and will be completed by Spring 2025.

Implementation

Implementation of the quiet zone will require additional funding to install the improvements once design is complete. The City is exploring potential funding sources to support implementation. Additional information on the schedule to implement will be provided as it is available.

Outreach

A public meeting was held on March 23, 2023 to review the process for implementing a quiet zone and the necessary infrastructure investments required. Thepresentation(PDF, 558KB),infrastructure investment exhibits(PDF, 3MB)and themeeting recordingare available.

Background

The City of Menlo Park currently has four at-grade crossings with Caltrain

Ravenswood Avenue
Oak Grove Avenue
Glenwood Avenue
Encinal Avenue

In addition, there is a pedestrian crossing located approximately 250 feet north of the Ravenswood crossing and an at-grade crossing at Palo Alto Avenue in Palo Alto, just across the city boundary, that requires trains to sound their horns in Menlo Park. The focus of this project will be on the four at-grade crossings within the City boundary of Menlo Park, but the City would like to understand the additional scope and cost required to expand the effort to include the Palo Alto Avenue crossing.

There is currently no existing railroad quiet zone within the City of Menlo Park. Without a quiet zone, the Federal Railroad Administration requires all passenger and freight train to activate their horns four times: 2 long blasts, 1 short blast, then 1 long blast beginning ¼ mile before each crossing. The purpose of these blasts is to warn vehicles approaching the crossings. Since only 1/5 of a mile separates each of Menlo Park’s four crossings, the four “1/4 mile before” horn blast sequences are repeated continuously, resulting in as many as 16 total blasts per passing train over the short span of 1.12 miles, depending on whether trains are stopping in Menlo Park. In practical terms, this can manifest as near continuous horn blasts with the maximum volume level for the train horn up to 110 decibels.

The City has received complaints from residents and business owners about the volumes, frequency, duration, and time frame of train horns. A quiet zone was requested to be implemented in the City of Menlo Park because quiet zone crossings are typically safer than standard crossings and are becoming increasingly common in populated areas. Atherton has a quiet zone on the Caltrain corridor and similar zones have recently been established across California (including in Marin County, Orange County, San Diego, Fremont and San Jose, among other locations).