Ticket Comment

Ms. Gonzales,

I forwarded your concerns to BNSF.  Below is their response.  Krista

We certainly understand that the train horn can be loud, especially as folks may be sleeping. However, the horn is meant to save lives and to keep the public safe. The train horn is governed by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), of which BNSF must follow. Engineers can be fined individually by the FRA if they don’t follow the rule. The loudness of the horn is also regulated by the FRA, not BNSF. Here’s the link to the FRA website: https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0889. A number of other factors like humidity, and temperature can affect how far he sound travels as well.

Lately, BNSF has seen an increase in overall traffic in BNSF. We serve a number of customers in Great Falls and serve them 24/7 which may be why citizens feel there has been an increase in train noise.

If folks have other questions, you can also direct them to BNSF.

Regards,

-Ross