The Battle Between Train Horns And Your Beauty Sleep In Illinois And Iowa

It's pleasant until it's not.

If you live a distance from train tracks (like I used to), the soft sound of a night train might be calming. If you live right beside them (like I do now, my fault, I know), you know that the horn is really a litmus test of the conductor's character. How loud is this guy or gal going to be when not one soul is anywhere near the tracks right now?

I'm used to night trains by now but last night, I heard a train in Davenport around probably 2:00 a.m. that has to be in the Top 5 Unnecessarily Obnoxious. This thing let out such a loud rip at a prolonged, awkward cadence that it sounded like it was opening a vat to the underworld. At 2:00 in the morning.

So at what point does it just become not okay?

The Legal Decibel & Cadence

Many train engineers do have sounding the horn at their discretion, but there are still some specifics they federally have to do. The Federal Railroad Administration says that trains have to sound a pattern of 2 long blasts, 1 short blast, and 1 long blast. They have to sound at minimum 96 decibels and maximum 110 decibels. That's all legal standard.

There's a "good faith" exception that allows engineers to start sounding the horn up to 25 seconds before they get to a crossing when they aren't quite sure what time exactly they'll be going through the crossing.

Quiet Zones

Davenport and the Quad Cities are expected to get triple the train traffic by 2027. That's a lot of horns.

Davenport does have a noise abatement ordinance for residential areas from 11:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. but trains are exempt from it. Downtown Davenport will get rail quiet zones. They are part of the new Main Street Landing project (which is expected to be done in Fall 2026). According to the city, each of the 12 crossings between Mound Street and Marquette will get signage designating it as a quiet zone.

Moline considered rail quiet zones a few years ago. Clinton did establish them in 2024.

Quiet zones vary city to city, but an engineer who violates them can face fines. In one city, it can be a fine of up to $100. Towns have the option to have 'partial quiet zones' with the Federal Railroad Administration, which would pretty much just be the same requirements as Davenport's noise ordinance: no rail horns from 10:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.