The Ames City Council has decided to install stationary automated train horns at three more railroad crossings as part of a joint project between the Union Pacific Railroad and Iowa Department of Transportation.

City council member Herman Quirmbach said the current whistles are set much louder than necessary and cover too wide of a distance.

“What they do now is start blowing the whistle half a mile away from the intersection, which is a nuisance for those half a mile on either side of the intersection,” he said. “They not only alerted the people at the crossing, they alerted the people living near the track.”

The old train whistles are being replaced by new, automated whistles, he said.

“Basically, there’s a sensor along the track that senses the train is coming and triggers the stationary horns,” he said. “The sound is only set off at the specific point where it’s needed — i.e. at the crossing, not for a half a mile on either side.”

The new whistles also will not be as loud as the old ones but still will be audible to vehicles at the crossing, he said.

“It’s easily heard by cars approaching the intersections; it’s just less easily heard by those living a half mile away,” Quirmbach said.

When the automated whistles sound, blue strobe lights go off to notify the train conductors, said Scott Logan, city traffic engineer.

However, the lights will not bother those nearby, he said.

“They’re shielded so the strobe light only shines down the track, not down the street,” he said.

Quirmbach said the automated whistles already have been installed at train crossings on North Dakota Avenue, Scholl Road and North Hazel Avenue. Starting this month, experimentation will begin with the whistles at the Clark Avenue, Kellogg Avenue and Duff Avenue crossings.

If there still are no problems with the whistles, they will be permanently implemented at all six crossings in November.

Only two other U.S. cities — Parsons, Kan., and Garing, Neb. — have used the automated whistles, said Judie Hoffman, city council member.

“These are very new systems that are just being developed, and we’re fortunate to be the first in Iowa because it’ll really help to reduce the noise pollution,” she said.

It cost the city $90,000 to install the first set of automated whistles and to raise medians, Quirmbach said. The medians deter people from going around the gates that come down when a train is coming.

He said the reaction to the whistles has been very positive.

“They love it,” he said. “This is probably the most popular $90,000 we’ve spent in the four years I’ve been on city council. I think it’s dramatically reduced the noise, and people are very grateful for that.”

Logan said 90 percent of affected residents in a recent survey were satisfied with the new horns.

“Before, 80 percent of the people were dissatisfied from the noise the trains made, so it’s a complete reversal,” he said.

Of the 10 percent still unsatisfied with the whistle situation, he said, some said they did not like that engineers occasionally forgot about the automated whistles and sounded their own horns.

Logan said others missed the loud noise.

“A small minority like the train horns — a nostalgia sort of thing,” he said.

Quirmbach said people’s safety is not being risked by the automated whistles.

“This is a safety issue, and we’re not gonna compromise on safety, period,” he said. “We need to implement a system that is reliable and gives accurate warning, but what we’ve found is we can do that by focusing the sound on the area where it’s needed.”

He said the manual horns still can be sounded when there is a person or vehicle spotted on the track. However, people need to be careful.

No one should ever walk along the tracks or cross when the safety gate is down, he said.

“When [conductors] see people on the tracks, all they can do is lean on the horn,” he said. “They can’t stop the train.”