With a quiet background (countryside night time) 6–8 miles. Suburban, 2–3 miles. Loud city, 1 mile if you're listening for it.
People Also Ask
Sound travels faster in warm air than it does in cool air. This means the sound of a train horn will bend downward when it passes through an inversion causing sound waves to propagate farther than normal.
Noise pollution and vibrations are some of the biggest concerns, particularly for people who live within one-third of a mile of railroads or railyards, says Natalia Caldeira Loss Vincens, an expert in public health at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Many homes near train tracks will shake when the train passes due to the train design, length, weight, cargo, and speed. You can use thick padding and carpet floors. Make sure all doors and windows are insulated.
Different tracks have different amounts of vibration at different frequencies. And of course high speed routes even if you could feel them you may still not have time to get out of the way before a train obliterates you. So in some cases you'll feel the vibrations before the train comes and in others you may not.
Under the Train Horn Rule (49 CFR Part 222, issued on August 17, 2006), locomotive engineers must begin to sound train horns at least 15 seconds, and no more than 20 seconds, in advance of all public grade crossings.
Keep a minimum distance of 15 feet from the tracks when stopped. at railroad crossings, such as school buses or trucks carrying hazardous materials. Listen for whistles or bells when approaching a crossing.
Railroad tracks are private property, not public trails. It's illegal to walk on the tracks unless you're at a designated crossing. It's extremely dangerous to walk, run, or drive down the railroad tracks or even alongside them.
If there are signals around, they can help tell you if a train is coming. Most signals are “approach lit”, meaning they are dark when there are no trains around, and light up when a train is nearby. This is done to save power, as some signals are battery powered.
When the rule established the requirement for routine sounding of the locomotive horn, a procedure was also established whereby localities that could meet certain safety requirements might designate as a “quiet zone” a segment of a rail line with one or more consecutive public highway-rail grade crossings.
Anyway, don't blame the engineer: They're required to blow that horn. The regulation in question is called the Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns—a name that strongly implies they've had just about enough of your bitching—and it requires four blasts 15 to 20 seconds before every crossing.