Menlo Park is officially exploring what it would take to establish a "quiet zone" along a section of the Caltrain corridor within and even extending beyond city limits.

On Jan. 25, the City Council voted unanimously on plans to seek contractor bids to study the feasibility of creating a Caltrain horn-free zone along the rail line bisecting Menlo Park.

The idea behind a quiet zone along the Caltrain rail line is to install safety improvements enabling train operators to lay off the horns at each intersection where the rail line crosses city streets. Without extra safety measures, the trains are required to sound their horns.

In Menlo Park there are four such crossings: Ravenswood, Oak Grove, Glenwood and Encinal avenues. In addition, the Palo Alto Avenue crossing just south of the Menlo Park border is close enough to trigger Caltrain horn blasts in the city as it crosses into Palo Alto.

The city wants a consultant to figure out how much extra it would cost to evaluate the Palo Alto Avenue crossing in the feasibility study, although if it moved forward, it would likely be treated as its own quiet zone, according to a staff report.

Because all four of Menlo Park's rail crossings are so close together, and Caltrain sounds its horn four times every time it is a quarter-mile from its next crossing, the horn can blast up to 16 times over a distance of only about 1.1 miles as each train passes through Menlo Park. And each blast can reach the maximum train horn volume of 110 decibels, according to staff.

Considering that, it's no wonder that residents have complained about the volume, frequency, duration and time frame of the horns for years. There's also been a notable uptick in complaints as residents who live near the train tracks have been increasingly trying to work and study at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some residents have pointed to neighboring Atherton's success in implementing the first quiet zone on the Caltrain corridor and called on city officials to establish a quiet zone in Menlo Park.

According to the Federal Rail Administration, there are a number of requirements that must be met to permit a quiet zone. Each crossing has to have gates, flashing lights and warning time devices; the zone must be at least a half-mile long; and it must not have a regular (non-quiet) crossing within a quarter of a mile of the first or last crossing of the zone, Associate Transportation Engineer Phong Vo told the City Council.

A number of residents spoke in favor of the council's step toward a quiet zone Tuesday. "The long-term solution to alleviating more of the train noise is grade separations," said Complete Streets Commissioner and Caltrain advocate Adina Levin. "There's no telling how long that will take. If we have a decade of people being able to sleep at night, it is worth pursuing this."

The city has for decades been exploring how to move forward with separating the Caltrain rail line from the places it intersects with city roads. After years of debate, the city is exploring the possibility of a fully elevated grade separation alongside other approaches at three of the city's four rail crossings, at Ravenswood, Oak Grove and Glenwood avenues.

Speaking on behalf of several neighborhoods near the Caltrain tracks, Felton Gables resident Marcy Abramowitz emphasized the willingness of residents to support the project and urged the city to select a consultant with experience that is relevant to the city of Menlo Park. "We are thrilled to be embarking on this step," she said.

Funding for the study includes $75,000 from city coffers and $300,000 allocated from the Springline development under construction at 1300 El Camino Real. More funding would be needed to construct the improvements for the quiet zone, according to staff. Under the proposed timeline, the contractor would be expected to develop the draft implementation plan for the quiet zone by Sept. 26.