Throughout our country, community groups are attempting to fight the onslaught of railroad noise in their neighborhoods. They decry the incessant blasting of train horns (whistles), track vibrations, and the prolonged idling of noisy and foul smelling diesel trains.

Living close to crossings at times is horrendous, especially at night. The train horns interrupt the daily lives of people in many cities as they have to pause during their phone conversations, turn up the volume on their televisions sets and radios, close their windows, and worry about what effect the increased noise will have on their property values.

However, neither they nor their townships will ever have any impact on the railroads. Communities are powerless to enact their own whistle ban. Their fellow citizens who are fighting aircraft noise have a far greater chance of succeeding, for flight patterns are flexible, which is certainly not the case with railroad tracks. They are yours forever. If residents of another neighborhood do not hear the train horns, then they will show no sympathy. They will disparage you, and refer to the NIMBY Syndrome, knowing full well that it is your problem, not theirs.

We are at the brink of inviting the proverbial big bad wolf into all of our homes. Plans are underway for a commuter station to be built on Ga. Highway 74, and along with it, high-density zoning. Inevitability, it will be thrust upon us just like the Home Depot debacle.

I do not have the expertise of Steve Brown who has been our town watchdog, but as a layperson I do question how the commuter station could possibly help our traffic situation in Peachtree City. There would still have to be the same number of individual cars going to and from the station, but they would all arrive and leave at the same time. It would appear that it would exacerbate local congestion instead of helping it. Add to that the high-density zoning, and you can further say good-bye to our “planned community.”

For safety reasons, there is a fundamental requirement for train horns at certain crossings, but think of train horns blasting every 15 minutes instead of hearing freight trains just a measly 20 times a day.

Yes, the train station will help your commute to Atlanta, but will you still want to live here?

Leonard A. Sherman, DVM

Peachtree City

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