Honking trains vex Voorheesville residents

VOORHEESVILLE, NY (NEWS10) — The Albany County village built around a railroad sees three trains per hour every day. Now there's a potential fix for this noisy nuisance – a four-quadrant rail gate at the crossing. If installed, the new crossing would block all traffic on both sides of the gate, and train operators would not have to honk when crossing local intersections.

After thirteen years of trying, the village found a funding source for their solution dubbed a 'Quiet Zone'. But a roadblock remained. “Both of those grants came from DASNY…But they were listed as a capital project which requires ownership of the land that the gates would be put on,” Mayor Rich Straut explained.

The tracks are owned by CSX. DASNY [Dormitory Authority of the State of New York] can only fund projects on local government-owned property. So, Voorheesville found a way to keep the project on track.

“We were able to meet with DASNY and have them talk with the Department of Environmental Conservation and reclassify it as an environmental project because it's noise pollution, so they basically agree to that and that does not require ownership of the land," Straut continued.

The project's price tag is an estimated $400,000 with $10-20,000 coming out of the village's pocket. But not everyone hates the horns.

"I don't even know how to comment on it. It doesn't bother me" said resident Kara Kowalski. “Sometimes I feel like the train sounds are soothing” added her jogging buddy Melissa Livingston.

Leslie Baty doesn't mind either, she even has a creative way to use the noise.

"I work over at the Pretty-All-Right Breakfast Club, and [the manager] does a TikTok live stream and they have a train gift. So every time that goes off we all gift him a train. So it's pretty cool yeah I love it!" Baty said as another train barreled by.

Railcrossing renderings are still being developed. After finalization from the state, funding will be secure and the crossing can be built.