Quiet Zone Commemoration Planned Monday

The city of Walnut plans to celebrate the designation of a block of crossings along Valley Boulevard as a train horn quiet zone Monday with a ceremony at Brea Canyon and Old Ranch roads.

Walnut officials have been lobbying neighboring City of Industry to get the area of the Union Pacific Railroad crossings that border Walnut listed as a quiet zone.  The tracks along Valley are on the City of Industry side of the street so Walnut could not apply for the designation or do any of the construction needed to get the crossings ready.

However, Walnut wants to show appreciation for the project and "commemorate the long awaited horn Quiet Zone along Valley Boulevard," officials said in a news release.

Mayor Mary Su earlier this month asked staff to look into having a small ceremony.

The $2 million project required the City of Industry to apply to the Federal Railroad Administration for the designation, which includes crossings at Brea Canyon Road and Valley, Old Benton Way, and Lemon and Fairway as quiet zones. The designation, which officially goes into effect Monday, means that trains coming through those crossing are prohibited from blowing their horns.

Industry started construction on the quiet zone in 2011.

Projects to ready the area slated for the designation included the addition of gates to the crossing at Fairway Drive and Lemon Avenue and the installation of raised medians at the Brea Canyon Road crossing.

"The train horns can be silenced only when other safety measures, such as railroad crossing enhancements, compensate for the absence of the horns," officials said in the news release.

Monday's ceremony will start at 10:30 a.m. and is open to the public.

For more information please contact Management Analyst Fabiola Huerta at 909-595-7543. For more information on the City of Walnut, please visit the website at www.ci.walnut.ca.us.