City once again addressing finicky Edmonds train horn system

The City of Edmonds is addressing ongoing issues with its wayside train horn system, which has struggled with reliability since its implementation in 2019. Acting Public Works Director Phil Williams confirmed that the system's maintenance company has gone out of business, complicating troubleshooting efforts. Currently, staff are focused on an outage at the Dayton Street crossing, which has shown increased glitches regardless of weather conditions. The city employs a reboot strategy similar to restarting an old computer to resolve the issues, coordinating with BNSF railroad to inform train crews when the system is operational. Despite these efforts, train engineers may still blow their horns out of caution if the system is deemed unreliable.

Williams mentioned that staff often need to reset the system multiple times a week. As the city considers a long-term approach, replacing the entire system may be necessary, contingent on finding a new vendor and securing funding. This situation highlights ongoing challenges in managing urban noise pollution and ensuring safety at train crossings.