Retiree Charlie Halk lives about 50 yards from train tracks in Vero Beach. He calls his backyard a train station.
“We hear a great deal of whistles 24/7,” Halk said. “About every 15 to 20 minutes you have a train barreling through and you do hear it more so with the horns and the whistles.”
Cassandra Garcia/WPTVAcross the street from him, Paul Joyce shared his frustrations.
“When a northbound train comes past within about a minute or two, a southbound train comes past, so you get a double whammy,” Joyce said.
Cassandra Garcia/WPTVBoth were looking forward to the possibility of a countywide “quiet zone” of freight and Brightline trains. That means trains passing through Indian River County would only be allowed to blow their horns at certain times of the day or in emergency situations.
However, Tuesday morning, the county commissioners unanimously agreed not to pursue a “quiet zone.”