[RP TownTalk] Hyattsville council discusses RxR quiet zone for Decatur crossing

[Dwight Holmes]

Not to hijack my own thread, but this reminded me of another CSX-related
issue.  Those who were living here 3 years ago will remember when a train
hit a car AND the tow truck that was called to pull the car off the tracks
where it had gotten stuck.  With the force of the collision, the tow truck
was launched like a missile and wiped out a lamp post, newspaper stands,
and a park bench at our train station.  The more colorful description from
the Riverdale Railfans email list at the time is quoted below!

My recollection is that we were told at the time that CSX had promised to
replace/restore the street lamp and park bench that were wiped out in that
accident.  It will have been 3 years come March.  Fair to say they are
overdue on that task? Any chance the town could nudge them into making our
station whole again?

Here's an account of the accident from 3/19/12:
For those who haven't heard yet, about 8:30 last night, a train hit a car
AND a towtruck at the Queensbury road crossing at the Riverdale MARC
station.

Yes, it finally happened. Another drunk driver turned onto the tracks and
got stuck. A tow truck was called and,as it was trying to get the car off
the tracks, an autorack train came along and made short work of both
vehicles. Fortunately noone was hurt, but the towtruck was thrown and wiped
out the newspaper boxes, bushes, and our beloved bench. The truck ended up
as a crumpled mass at the base of one of the trees that shaded the bench.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 10:44 PM, Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The Hyattsville Life & Times's new issue reports on discussions at
> Hyattsville's city council re the process of applying for a quiet zone for
> the Decatur St CSX crossing.  You can access the article here:
>
>
> http://hyattsvillelife.com/council-discusses-moving-forward-with-csx-quiet-zone/
>
> This short paragraph grabbed my attention:
> "In Oct. 2010, Riverdale Park completed upgrades of the CSX crossing at
> Queensbury Road after multiple motor vehicle accidents, according to a City
> of Hyattsville memo. One of those accidents reportedly included a bus in
> March 2009."
>
> I don't trust my memory for much of anything anymore, but I don't recall
> that a rash of accidents was given as a reason for the upgrade.  (Anyone
> knowing otherwise, please correct me!)  I thought that it was done - or at
> least was originally initiated by then-council member Rob Oppenheim - as a
> necessary step in the process of attaining quiet zone status.  And I do
> remember that the process of upgrading the crossing gates, from start to
> finish, took an amazingly long time, and certainly was begun well prior to
> March, 2009.  In fact, looking back in my email just now, I see that I
> posted to TownTalk in March, 2008 that CSX was unloading equipment as part
> of the installation of the new gates!
>
> Anyway, I'd be interested to hear from Mayor Archer or one of our council
> members what the status is of the quiet zone application process? Is it
> something the town is still actively pursuing? If so, are there any signs
> of progress?  What step of the process are on at this point?  (The HL&T
> article links to the Federal Railroad Administration's "How To Create A
> Quiet Zone" PDF, here <http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L03055>.)
>
> Presumably none of us moved here not knowing there was a railroad in
> town.  Personally, I've always been fond of train horns (and trains in
> general).  But given the fortress nature of our new upgraded crossing
> gates, the volume *and* duration of the horn blowing does seem excessive.
> If it's within our powers to force CSX to turn down the noise, I would be
> all for it!
>
> Dwight Holmes
> Half-a-block from the tracks :)
>
>
>
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