STUART, Fla. — It’s been a year since Brightline began train service to Orlandoblowing his horn in several towns and counties along the way.

For safety reasons, Martin County decided to wait a year before re-examining the possibility of creating “quiet zones” where the train would not regularly honk its horn.

The year has passed and officials are moving full steam ahead with implementing the plan.

Garry Yoder hears train horns outside his house every day. He lives opposite the railway tracks.

“I would say less than 200 feet,” Yoder said. “It’s boring.”

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Last September, Brightline began traveling through Martin County on its way to Orlando.

“The only downside to living here is these horns go off 26 times a day,” Yoder said.

He just learned that the county is looking to establish a “quiet zone” near his home.

“That’s when they don’t honk their horns except when they feel the need to,” said Jim Gorton, Martin County Public Works Director. “We waited a year because we wanted our residents to get acclimated to high-speed rail.”

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This is a game changer for many residents.

“There should be limits on what time of day these horns go off,” Stuart resident Patricia Hoesten said.

The county is currently reviewing its 27 crossings to determine what safety improvements need to be made to qualify for a “quiet zone.”

“If we’re asking them to stop using these train horns, then we have to create additional measures to make up the difference between the safest thing, which is train horns,” Gorton explained.

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Over the past ten years, there have been a total of nine rail incidents, two of which involved a Brightline train.

“If a door doesn’t stop them, a horn won’t stop them,” Hoesten said.

The county plans to bring this issue to the Board of County Commissioners early next year.

Yoder and other residents hope the “quiet zones” will be approved.

“I don’t know how this doesn’t work and how it doesn’t benefit everyone,” Yoder said.

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