by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — By a 3-2 vote, the Wellington City Council approved the implementation of quiet zones at the railroad crossings from G Street to the Santa Fe-Burlington Northern railroad office that would keep trains from blowing horns within the city limits. It also voted to not recommend the closing of any traffic intersections in doing so.

Council members John Tracy, Jim Valentine and John Brand voted for the proposal. Jan Korte and Vince Wetta voted against it. Council member Kelly Green was not in attendance.

Keep in mind, this is a motion to move forward with the quiet zone process. It is in no way final approval. Wellington City will submit a recommendation to the Federal Railroad Administration which will then need to approve it.

The proposal would designate the five intersections at C, Washington, Jefferson, G and H Streets as “Quiet Zone” intersections. The city would need to construct a system in place in which it would make it impossible for traffic – whether it be vehicles or pedestrians – to cross the train tracks while a train is passing through. In turn, the BNSF would not blow the whistle in these zones, unless the engineer finds its absolutely necessary to do so.

Train horns are required by federal law to be sounded at all public crossings 24 hours a day to warn motorists and pedestrians that a train is approaching. Train crews may also sound their horns when there is a vehicle, person or animal on the tracks within 25 feet.

The quiet zones could cost the city around $100,000, Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said. Concrete medians would be built on the north and south sides of the intersection which will go up to the crossing arms currently in place. These medians will be 100 feet long and look like those placed on the Kansas Turnpike separating the north and south-bound traffic.

The council chambers were packed at Tuesday’s meeting with people testifying both for or against the proposal. Debate lasted for over an hour.

Wellington resident Paul Weber said 20 to 25 percent of the Wellington residents are affected by the whistles. He said he has worked on a quiet zone proposal for several years and has only heard one resident who was against having a quiet zone.

Larry Shimer, another Wellington resident and former city council member, said he guesses there are over 70 trains now going through Wellington instead of the 20 or 25 trains that went through when he first bought his house around 20 years ago.

“When the trains go through you can’t hear one another, you can’t watch TV, you have a hard time sleeping,” Shimer said. “I love the trains, but if you have property in the area, you aren’t selling your home because of those horns. Property values have plummeted.”

Wellington City Judge Frank Korte said he is against the proposal because of liability concerns. If the city establishes quiet zones and there is an accident, the city, not the railroad, would become liable. The city of Wellington could find itself in a lawsuit that could cost city taxpayers in the millions of dollars.

“I suggest you take this off the docket because there are so many unanswered questions,”Korte said.

Korte said the huge liability could make taxes skyrocket, and have a detrimental effect on economic development because newcomers would not want to take on that burden of increased liability.

Wellington resident Sherry Wiley said she walks eight miles a day and closing the tracks would no longer make the town accessible for her.

Wellington resident Fred Hinman, who brought the proposal up at the March 5 meeting, said he has been on the FRA website and that quiet zone intersections are considered safer than the non-quiet zone intersections.

“There are 590 quiet zones in this country,” Hinman said. “It is not like we are the pioneers. With the modest amount of money it will take to build these quiet zones, the prospect of property values going up, and no safety issues; it is an easy thing to do to create a better quality of life in Wellington.”

Collins said when talking to a few communities for which quiet zones were implemented, liability insurance did not go up.

The Wellington City Council members then took their turn to speak.

Brand made a motion to close the G Street intersection, because in doing so, the BNSF would pay the city $50,000. That motion died due to a lack of second. Both Tracy and Valentine expressed their desire not to close any intersections in town. Tracy said in his first tenure on the council, the quiet zone proposal died because there was a disagreement over whether or not to close intersection(s).

Jan Korte, earlier in the meeting, said it would be best to close all intersections and have one elevated crosswalk over a crossing for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Wetta said he has two sons working at BNSF and the railroad loves quiet zones because they no longer have to pay for liability. He said he would not vote for a proposal unless he had more information about the liability the city would take on if quiet zones were implemented.

Valentine said he is voting for quiet zones because that is what his constituents want. He also worried about the number of horns in the future hearing Wellington could get as many as 100 trains a day.

Editor’s Note: In a previous version of this story it was incorrectly stated that the total cost of the Quiet Zone is $150,000. It is actually $100,000.

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