Hutto City Council could vote in September to fund a project that would make the familiar blare of a train’s horn in Hutto the exception rather than the rule.

Federal regulations require train engineers to sound their horns for 15 to 20 seconds when approaching intersections as a safety precaution, but parts of Austin and some of its neighboring cities, such as Cedar Park and Leander, have circumvented that rule by initiating railroad quiet zones—areas where trains do not sound their horns.

Hutto could be next on that list if a proposed Capital Improvement Plan budget is approved by City Council, City Manager Karen Daly said.

Currently, train conductors sound their horns anywhere from two to a dozen times when traveling through Hutto’s three main intersections, said Michael Thompson, who co-owns Hutto Therapy Center opposite the train tracks near Hwy. 79.

“Some of the [conductors] just toot the horn, and some of them lay on it the whole way through Hutto—it’s deafening,” Thompson said. “When you’re on the phone you can’t even talk. You have to hold your conversation until the whistle stops.”

Federal Railroad Administration documents estimate about 29 trains travel through Hutto every 24 hours.

To install a quiet zone, cities must secure an intersection to the point that no vehicles or pedestrians would be able to cross while a train pasess, thus making the train horn warning unnecessary, FRA Public Affairs Specialist Michael Cole said.

“It is up to local government agencies to establish these quiet zones,” he said. “It is not an uncommon thing. There are communities across the nation working to get quiet zones.”

Daly said the process could be more affordable for Hutto if the city is able to incorporate quiet zone intersection improvements at the FM 685 crossing into the construction project already taking place on that road. In the draft CIP budget, Hutto staffers are recommending $100,000 for the total quiet zone project cost, she said.

Daly said she helped obtain railroad quiet zones for the city of Sugar Land as assistant city manager there and that the process took about two years.

“We didn’t realize how much our quality of sleep was disrupted [in Sugar Land] until the trains stopped [using horns],” she said. “I’d seen the benefit of [quiet zones], and since I live on one side of the track and work on the other [side in Hutto], I hear the trains all the time. When you first move in, you realize how disruptive it is, then you sort of get used to it.”

Even after quiet zones are adopted, train engineers can still sound their horns if there is perceived danger on the track or if there is construction in the immediate area, said Jeff DeGraff, a spokesperson for Union Pacific Railroad, a rail company that sends trains through Hutto.

DeGraff said Union Pacific does not endorse quiet zones, but the company complies with the Federal Railroad Administration rules, which allow for the zones in certain circumstances.

“While we understand the desire to limit noise in a community, train horns are a vital part of railroad safety. Union Pacific believes quiet zones compromise the safety of railroad employees, customers, and the general public,” DeGraff said in an email. “As inconvenient as some may think train horns are, an accident can be devastating.”