No train horn plaque

How to read it

The MUTCD requires either this plaque (W10-9P), mounted directly below the round advance warning sign, or a separate NO TRAIN HORN sign (W10-9) in each direction at every crossing in a quiet zone set up under the FRA's train horn rule, 49 CFR Part 222. The rule defines a quiet zone as a stretch of rail line with one or more public crossings where horns are not routinely sounded. The horn can still be used there: the FRA says engineers may sound it in emergencies and where other federal rules or railroad operating rules require it. This page describes the national standard and isn’t legal advice; what a driver must do at a crossing is set by state law.

Also searched as: no train horn sign, quiet zone sign.

The horn pattern outside quiet zones

Everywhere else the rule requires the horn at public crossings, in a set pattern: two long blasts, one short blast and one long blast, repeated or held until the locomotive is in the crossing. It starts at least 15 and no more than 20 seconds before the crossing; for trains over 60 mph, no more than a quarter of a mile before it.

Who sets up a quiet zone

Only a public authority, the body responsible for traffic control or law enforcement at the crossings, such as a city or county, can establish one, according to the FRA. Every public crossing in a new quiet zone must have both flashing lights and gates, and every road approach a warning sign. In a partial quiet zone the horn is silenced only at night, and the sign says horns are not sounded between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.