Muncie approves $3.5M to create train-horn quiet zones

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) – Muncie city officials have approved about $3.5 million in contracts with two railroad companies to establish a zone free from train horn noise in the city’s downtown area.

The Board of Works and Public Safety approved construction contracts Wednesday with Norfolk and Southern Railway and CSX, which operate on tracks that run in Muncie and near downtown, The Star Press reported. The goal is to lessen noise from train horns, and the Federal Railroad Administration must still approve the work.

City engineering consultant Dick Weigel said the Norfolk and Southern contract was for about $2 million and the CSX contract was for about $1.5 million.

The contracts will pay for improvements to several crossings and closing other crossings. That will make it less necessary for trains to blow horns downtown.

The money comes from about $5 million that Mayor Dennis Tyler set aside from city borrowing. Tyler said he believes the work can be finished by the Dec. 1 opening of a new 150-room hotel.