Centralia Ends Pursuit of Railroad Quiet Zone

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Centralia city officials no longer plan to pursue a railroad quiet zone through downtown after a presentation by City Manager Rob Hill and City Engineer Jan Stemkoski on Tuesday during the city council meeting.

The two officials were there to present an update on their efforts to secure grant funding for safety upgrades at rail crossings on Maple Street, Locust Street and Main Street that would need to happen in order for the city to apply for a quiet zone — a stretch of rail line where trains would not have to sound their horns as required by federal law, unless there was a clear and present danger.

It quickly became clear that not only was the available funding option not viable, but that continued pursuit would open the city to a litany of headaches.

“It’s not my place to tell you to reject this,” Hill told council members. “But, I’ve never agreed to an open-ended grant before, and that makes me very nervous. … My position is that we put this pursuit to bed.”

The possible grant Hill made reference to, funds the city will likely now reject, was a total of $641,200 of federal funds via the 2017 Railway-Highway Crossing Program that would have gone toward a list of improvements to the crossings at Maple and Locust. 

Funding for the Main Street project was denied; Stemkoski speculated it may have been because the necessary work there would likely cost as much if not more than the other two sites combined.

Of greater concern was the lack of detail available in the proposed grant agreement. According to Stemkoski, the railroad companies involved — BNSF was mentioned as one — only provided ballpark estimates on the costs for work at the two crossings.

Per the proposed grant contract, any additional costs incurred after the fact would not be covered. Hill said that amount could have easily run north of $200,000. Stemkoski said he couldn’t get answers when he asked for detailed cost breakdowns and that one item listed, installation of ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps over the tracks, was not one he put in the grant application.

“Once we sign the dotted line, if they come back for more then we’re responsible for 100 percent of it,” Stemkoski said. “…even then, we’d still need to do the Main Street and fencing projects to even talk about a quiet zone.”

City councilors first entertained the idea of a quiet zone in 2016 following complaints from residents who deal with the loud blasts of train horns and noise generated by the large engines at all hours of the day and night.



The second issue raised by Stemkoski and Hill, one that drew a visceral reaction from city attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson, seemed to drive the nail in the coffin of the quiet zone discussion.

If the city were to complete all of the necessary projects to apply for a quiet zone designation, then receive one, it would need to be at least a half-mile in length. 

For that stretch, which is frequently crossed illegally by transients, Centralia would have to assume total liability for incidents that occur at those crossings where trains would otherwise be required to sound warning blasts.

“It’s just a huge liability,” Murphy-Olson said. “We’ve had several people killed in the last few years. You look at inattentive drivers, people going around the cross-arms, and I’d just hate to see the city take on that much liability. It’s kind of a lawyer’s nightmare.”

Hill took it further, saying that any attorney worth their salt would go after the city with a claim even if their client was impacted by an incident 100 yards from the crossing.

City officials and councilors alike expressed their desire to see the city continue to look for ways to make safety improvements to the railway and to mitigate the noise pollution. 

Councilor Peter Abbarno asked if the Centralia Downtown Association could work with businesses to install sound-dampening windows. Councilor Rebecca Staebler said she’d like to see crossings become more bike-friendly, and noted that much of what the grant covered would need to be done sooner or later.

The city will still explore doing the work it can without infringing on the railroad right-of-way, such as adding curbing down the middle of streets approaching the tracks and curbing sidewalks to prevent bicycles from swerving around lowered barriers.