Railroad construction project prompts train engineers to whistle

Written by jrood

February 14, 2001 Alexandria, Va., has become a whistle stop town - in more ways than one. Trains have been a regular feature of city life here since before the Civil War. But lately they've been making a ruckus. All over Alexandria, the sound of train whistles has been heard at all hours of the night and day, the Alexandria Gazette Packet reports.

The reason for the noise
is simple – construction.

For months, CSX Transportation
workers have been constructing a new bridge over the Norfolk Southern line near
Cameron Run Regional Park. The construction project involved workers on site,
which means that people are around when the trains barrel though the area.
According to federal regulation, engineers are required to blow the whistle
when they see people near the tracks. That means a whole lot of whistling is
going on in Alexandria.

"The neighborhood is
really upset about it," said Mindy Lyle, president of the Cameron Civic
Association. "During the day it’s fine, but people who live near the train
tracks are losing sleep over this."

The project is part of a
larger effort to construct a third "main line" railroad track between
Fredericksburg and Washington, D.C. The Alexandria railroad bridge replacement
is the link between seven miles of new "main line" beginning at the
Franconia-Springfield VRE station in Fairfax County and continuing to
Alexandria’s Union Station.

"They’re about a month
behind schedule because of the snowstorm," said city spokesman Tony
Castrilli. "The goal is to have the new bridge in place by Memorial
Day."

The expanded capacity is
needed to facilitate more frequent and reliable service for Amtrak and Virginia
Railway Express. Railroad workers are working to replace an existing one-track
bridge built in 1904 with a new double-track bridge constructed with two
million pounds of steel and 12,000 bolts. The new bridge is being assembled on
the construction site adjacent to the existing bridge, and it will be rolled
into place when assembly is complete.

"The whistling doesn’t
bother me so much," said Dak Hardwik, who lives near the construction
site. "What keeps me up at night is all the noise coming from Norfolk Southern’s
ethanol transloading operation."

The whistling will stop
soon. But the ethanol operation – and all the related noise – is expected to
continue indefinitely.

Tags: