Jeffery Pickens has lived in his north Houston neighborhood since 1992. His house sits about a block away from the tracks.
HOUSTON — A Houston man said he and his neighbors have been waiting decades for a solution to a problem that has caused them to lose sleep.
Jeffery Pickens and his Heights neighbors have been kept up at night by blaring train horns, so they came to KHOU 11 News for a solution.
Pickens has lived in his north Houston neighborhood since 1992. His house sits about a block away from the tracks.
“This is ridiculous … five or six trains a day,” he said.
Trains go down the tracks at all hours of the day, and Pickens said the horns are so loud that they sometimes sound like they’re coming into his living room.
It’s a sound many Houstonians know well, and it’s one that Pickens has been dealing with for three decades.
He said that in 2005, he and some of his neighbors filed an application with the City of Houston to have the area designated as a “quiet zone” for trains.
Twenty years later, they’re still waiting.
“It’s just, like, why can’t we have signs where we live at? You know? We’re living here,” he said.
He reached out to KHOU 11 News, hoping for answers and potentially getting a solution to the noisy nights that have plagued him for years.
City officials said there are currently 13 quiet zones in the city, but having new zones created isn’t an easy or quick process.
Houston Public Works officials said it requires extensive review and cooperation between city officials and the Federal Railroad Administration. Even once they’re approved, the projects can require a lot of money to pay for safety improvements at rail crossings to allow trains to travel through without horns.
Pickens said that rather than move, he and his neighbors chose to continue fighting.
“We’ve been fighting forever, and I just feel like somebody’s going to get something done,” he said.
On Wednesday, city officials said the project is in the queue for a future quiet zone, but for now, they’re still awaiting funding.
Click here to fill out an application for a quiet zone.
Click here for more information on federal train horn rules.
Click here for answers to frequently asked questions.