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After a contentious meeting boiled over a few months ago, the Valley Transit Authority met with Mountain View residents on Monday evening to address long-standing concerns about the elevated noise level of train bells in the Whisman Station neighborhood.
Unlike before, there was no shouting, tears or dramatic departures at the community meeting held on May 20, which took place at the German International School campus. But while noticeably more subdued, not everybody was satisfied with the plan that VTA officials presented.
“It’s not working for us,” said one community member, expressing his disappointment with the noise mitigation efforts so far.
The VTA bells were not always an issue for Whisman Station residents, who said they knew that living next to the light rail station and crossings meant they would be exposed to the sounding of bells, horns and announcements at regular intervals.
But over the years, the noise level has increased substantially as VTA changed out old mechanical bells on its trains for digital ones, that sounded at a higher pitch and cadence, while adding more bells to the rail crossings. Compared to other neighborhoods, there also are a lot of crossings between Middlefield Road and Central Expressway, meaning that there is a high concentration of ringing bells in a relatively small area.
The constant bombardment of noise, from early in the morning until late at night, has been intolerable for residents, who circulated a petition last year asking VTA and city to transform the area into a “quiet zone,” where train bells are not regularly sounded.
The request did not gain traction however, as light rail operations are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC stipulates that VTA sound bells at all of its stations and rail crossings, and sets the minimum volume level at 75 decibels to be heard 100 feet away from the front of a train.
Instead, to appease the community and still comply with CPUC regulations, VTA has proposed to pull other levers to damper the sound of its bells on trains and at rail crossings.
One substantial modification is replacing “high bells” on trains, where the volume level is set at 85 decibels, with “low bells,” which meet the minimum threshold of 75 decibels. High bells will still be used in emergency situations, but train operators will not have the option to sound them regularly, said Nauni Singh, VTA deputy director of transit operations.
As of now, five trains have been switched to low bells, but VTA still is waiting for approval from the CPUC to switch out the entire fleet. Once the state approves the modifications, bells also will be replaced at rail crossings, like Infinity Way, which currently has bells set at 85 decibels.
Community members questioned why the Infinity Way crossing existed at all since the road leads to a dead-end, empty field. Why not remove the crossing altogether, asked one resident.
Dawn Cameron, Mountain View’s acting assistant city manager and community development director, pushed back on this proposal, explaining that the site eventually will be developed and that VTA and the city could not take away its road access. Pedestrians and bicyclists also use the crossing regularly to get to Middlefield Road, she said.
VTA is also looking to reduce noise by cutting the last evening service hour so trains will not run as late, with passengers directed to buses instead. While appreciative of this modification, residents asked about reducing early morning service hours too. VTA responded this would not be possible because ridership levels were too high, without elaborating on the numbers.
VTA officials said they had fixed the problem of loud train announcements, even when nobody was using the service. The announcements were not initiated by train operators, according to VTA Chief Operating Officer Derik Calhoun. Instead, it was a circuit problem, he said.
But several residents noted that the announcements still were going off unnecessarily, an issue that VTA officials promised to follow up on, as it shouldn’t be happening, they said.
VTA also is considering removing some of the warning towers from the Whisman Station crossings to reduce the number of ringing bells, but this is contingent on receiving approval from the CPUC, according to Susan Lucero, VTA deputy director of safety and compliance.
While generally accepting of VTA’s proposals, community members expressed some frustration at the scope of the modifications. Train bells still were being deployed inconsistently, they said, and questioned why there was not an automated system in place or signs indicating to operators when they should stop ringing bells.
The timeline for more substantial modifications, like switching out high bells and possibly removing towers, was ambiguous and dependent on approval from the CPUC, an issue concerning some residents who were hoping for quicker fixes.
As of now, VTA has no plans for a follow up meeting, according to Gretchen Baisa, the community outreach supervisor.
“At this point, we’ve gone through the big levers that we can change. I mean ultimately, we don’t have a lot more levers that we can pull,” she said, adding that VTA still intended to comply with CPUC regulations.
An interesting thought is that the regulations don’t specify the tone, just the strength. Perhaps there is a less annoying tone at 75db. Certain tones carry further than others.
I’m glad the residents acknowledged that they moved next to an active railroad track. No, we are not cutting service just because you aren’t happy with your home purchase decision. The noise was outlined in your home sale disclosures. Buyer beware.
Anyone know why they close the gates at Central right as soon as a trolley leaves Mountain View station? Seems like a really long distance and time to start dinging bells and whatnot you know
The VTA needs to fix their terribly unreliable connections to the Caltrain morning trains before they should bother with this. There are much bigger issues with the line than noise.