Train horn noise in Los Angeles: rules, quiet zones and who to call

Updated 24 October 2026

Modeled estimates for general information only — not measurements, not a guarantee, and not for legal, medical or real-estate decisions.

A train must normally sound its horn 15 to 20 seconds before a public road crossing, unless the crossing is in a quiet zone. To report a horn that you think breaks the federal rule, use the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) alleged-violation form. To ask for a quiet zone, contact the city or county responsible for the crossing. Quiet LA is not an agency and cannot take a complaint.

Last verified: 24 October 2026. The federal rule text is from the eCFR as of 22 October 2026; every other page linked here was read on 24 October 2026, and each row below shows the date. Rules and phone numbers change, so confirm on the official page before you call.

Who do I contact about a train horn in Los Angeles?

In short: FRA takes reports that a railroad broke its rules, the railroads have their own contact pages, and only the public authority for a crossing can set up a quiet zone. FRA’s FAQ page does not mention horn noise complaints by name, and it lists day-to-day railroad operations and issues covered by state and local laws as outside its purview. Metrolink’s Contact Us page lists no train-horn line, and the Union Pacific and BNSF pages we read do not mention train horns. Metrolink’s Quiet Zones page has no date, so confirm its hotline. For other noise, see who to call about noise in Los Angeles and noise complaints by city.

When must a train sound its horn in Los Angeles?

The federal Train Horn Rule, 49 CFR Part 222, sets when and how a locomotive horn is used at public highway-rail crossings. What follows is the rule text as of 22 October 2026.

• Pattern. Two long blasts, one short and one long, repeated or prolonged until the locomotive occupies the crossing. The pattern may be varied where crossings are close together.
• Timing. The horn must begin at least 15 seconds, and no more than 20 seconds, before the locomotive enters the crossing. An engineer who cannot judge the arrival time exactly and starts up to 25 seconds early, acting in good faith, is not in violation.
• Faster trains. A train going faster than 60 mph must not begin sounding the horn more than one-quarter mile (1,320 feet) before the nearest public crossing, even if the warning is then shorter than 15 seconds.
• Stopped trains. An engineer whose train has stopped close to a crossing may approach and sound the horn for less than 15 seconds, and may vary the pattern, if the crossing is clear and either the gates are fully lowered or no conflicting traffic is approaching.
• Loudness. A lead locomotive horn must produce at least 96 dB(A) and at most 110 dB(A) at 100 feet forward of the locomotive. That section does not apply to locomotives of rapid transit operations.
• Passenger stations. Part 222 does not require a horn at a passenger station. Sounding one there is up to the railroad under its operating rules, and such a horn is not held to the 96 dB(A) minimum.
• Emergencies and other times. Part 222, quiet zones included, does not stop an engineer from sounding the horn when, in the engineer’s sole judgment, it is needed to prevent imminent injury, death or property damage. The rule also does not restrict the horn when a wayside horn is malfunctioning, when active crossing warning devices have malfunctioned or are out of service for inspection, maintenance or testing, when quiet zone safety measures no longer comply, or for other purposes such as warning roadway workers. Union Pacific’s Notify page gives 800-848-8715, Option 2 for malfunctioning crossing gates or warning signals.
• Slow trains with a flagger. Outside a quiet zone, a railroad may at its discretion stop sounding the horn at an individual public crossing when the locomotive speed is 15 mph or less and crew members or equipped flaggers flag the crossing.

The source lines of sections 222.21 and 222.23 record an amendment of 31 August 2026 that we did not read. FRA’s own Train Horn Rule page, last updated 4 April 2025, gives the same timing, pattern and 96 and 110 decibel limits.

What is a quiet zone and who creates one?

Part 222 defines a quiet zone as a segment of rail line with one or more consecutive public crossings at which locomotive horns are not routinely sounded. It is about locomotive horns only. It does not describe how loud a place is, and other train and road sound continues.

Only a public authority can establish one. Part 222 defines the public authority as the public entity responsible for traffic control or law enforcement at the crossing, and FRA gives a city or county as examples. If the crossings fall under more than one public authority, both must agree. Metrolink says it cannot create, pay for or approve a quiet zone, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) says a quiet zone does not require state approval.

There are two routes.

• Without FRA approval. The usual route under section 222.39(a). The public authority may designate a quiet zone without FRA review and approval if it uses an approved supplementary safety measure at every public crossing, or has a Quiet Zone Risk Index at or below the Nationwide Significant Risk Threshold, or uses measures that bring the index to or below the Risk Index With Horns, and it gives the required notices. The approved measures are a four-quadrant gate system, gates with medians or channelization devices, a one-way street with gates, permanent closure of a crossing and, for partial quiet zones only, temporary closure.
• With FRA approval. If the proposed quiet zone does not meet those standards, the public authority may apply to FRA’s Associate Administrator for approval. Such a zone may use alternative safety measures, or a mix of those and the supplementary measures.

A new quiet zone must cover at least one-half mile of railroad right-of-way, with exceptions such as adding onto an existing zone. Each public crossing in it needs warning lights and gates, and each road approach to every public and private crossing needs a sign saying train horns are not sounded there. A partial quiet zone is one where horns are not routinely sounded between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. but are the rest of the day.

CPUC says its Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch receives and evaluates the notices, that cities and counties decide whether to make the improvements, and that changes to an existing crossing still need CPUC authority. Union Pacific’s horn page says public authorities establishing a new quiet zone must submit Notices of Intent and Establishment, and prints an address for them.

Inside a quiet zone, FRA says horns may still be used in emergencies or to comply with other federal regulations and railroad operating rules.

Where are the quiet zones in LA County?

Railroads report crossing information to FRA, and FRA makes it public in the U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory. Its open dataset “Crossing Inventory Data (Form 71) - Current” has a Whistle Ban field, which FRA describes as the FRA-provided Quiet Zone value, and a Whistle Date. The dataset was updated on 24 October 2026. For Los Angeles County it holds 2,999 crossing records: 13 say “24 hr”, 2,791 say “No” and 195 are blank. None says “Partial”. The 13 records are in four cities, as listed in FRA’s crossing inventory:

Only the crossings named are listed, not every crossing in the city. The source is the FRA dataset, read on 24 October 2026. Some other records carry a Quiet Zone ID but say “No” in the Whistle Ban field (in the City of Los Angeles and Paramount). We found no official page that explains those IDs, so we do not count them.

Other pages list the zones differently. Metrolink’s undated Quiet Zones page names Pomona and Glendale, lists the same three Glendale crossings and has older text about Burbank finishing a zone by the end of 2019, and the City of Torrance’s railway page names Glendale, City of Industry and Pomona but not Burbank. For Burbank we found no city page that confirms the zone, so its row rests on FRA’s field alone. FRA also has a Quiet Zone Calculator that needs a Login.gov sign-in; we did not read it, and it could differ.

In the City of Los Angeles, a City Council motion of 17 June 2025 (Council File 25-0668) asks the Department of Transportation to report on the process for establishing a quiet zone on the City’s part of the Ventura Subdivision. A motion is not a quiet zone, and FRA’s inventory lists no City of Los Angeles crossing as one.

What is a wayside horn?

A wayside horn is a stationary horn at a crossing that warns approaching drivers when a train comes, instead of the locomotive horn. Under section 222.59 it may be used at any crossing with active warning devices of at least flashing lights and gates, and it may also be installed inside a quiet zone. Once one is operating, the railroad must stop routine locomotive horn use at that crossing.

Appendix E asks a wayside horn system for at least 92 dB(A) and at most 110 dB(A) at 100 feet from the centerline of the nearest track, directed toward approaching traffic. It must start at least 15 seconds before the train reaches the crossing and keep sounding while the lead locomotive crosses.

In FRA’s crossing inventory, no crossing in Los Angeles County has the Wayside Horn field set to Yes: 1,017 records say No and 1,982 are blank. A blank means FRA has no value, not that there is no wayside horn, so we list no locations.

What about Metro light rail?

FRA lists subways and light rail among the things outside its purview. Part 222 does not apply to rapid transit operations within an urban area that are not connected to the general railroad system, and the horn loudness section does not apply to rapid transit locomotives. We did not check which Metro lines are connected to the general railroad system, so we do not say that any given line is or is not covered.

CPUC says a quiet zone can be created along corridors shared by railroad and rail transit. A Metro fact sheet says light rail makes noise from wheels on the steel tracks and from warning bells at street crossings, and lists crossing bell shrouds and a stop to the bells once the gates are down among the measures for planned projects; we did not check which existing crossings have them. A 2009 Metro environmental report for the Expo (now E Line) extension says CPUC requires audible warnings at gate-protected at-grade crossings, bells on the gate masts and a horn on the lead vehicle, and describes the horn as for emergencies and a lower-volume “quacker” for standard operation. That report is for one project and is not a current rule for every Metro line.

How does the Quiet LA map treat train horns?

The map’s rail layer covers the Ventura and Valley main lines in the San Fernando Valley (Metrolink, Amtrak and Union Pacific freight). Horn blasts before crossings are a separate sound source along the track, using a generic locomotive horn, and they are part of the train level in every view.

• Where a horn is placed. The model puts a horn on the track on both sides of each crossing in FRA’s crossing inventory, about as far as a train travels in the rule’s 15 to 20 seconds and no more than a quarter mile. It uses a copy of the inventory retrieved on 5 October 2026.
• Quiet zone crossings are left out. A crossing whose Whistle Ban field says “24 hr” gets no horn. On the modeled lines that is the Burbank crossing and the three Glendale crossings in the table above. The Pomona and City of Industry quiet zones are on a line the rail layer does not cover, so its horns do not reach them. A blank field is treated as a crossing where the horn sounds.
• Private crossings. Section 222.21 asks for the horn at public crossings. For private crossings the model assumes a horn in the Day and Evening periods only.

A horn in the model is an average over each period’s train counts, not a single blast or a particular train. The model does not include a horn sounded in an emergency, the 25-second allowance, a station horn sounded by the railroad’s choice, wayside horns, or Metro light rail horns and bells. So at the four crossings the map leaves out, it does not show horns that the rule still allows in an emergency. The rail layer has had much less checking against measurements than the road and aircraft layers; see train and rail noise. The map does not show whether any horn or crossing meets a rule. See Limits, How it’s made and Sources & methods.

See the Valley main line near Burbank on the map