The great train horn saga of 2024 is coming to an end at the start of 2025.
Federal Railroad Administration officials reinstated the "quiet zone" between Provo and Salt Lake City, after all the crossings in the zone passed through a safe inspection this week, Lehi officials announced Friday afternoon.
"(The agency) will be officially notifying rail users to update their systems and crews to stop blowing their horns within seven days," city officials wrote in an update on social media.
The final crossing involved a private driveway by 1700 South in Salt Lake City, which was fixed last month.
Friday's update comes months after the administration lifted its two zones from Ogden through Provo at the end of September, citing issues with multiple crossings. Quiet zones are areas where railroad crossings are safe enough for operators to pass through without using a horn unless they believe there's an immediate threat on the tracks.
Lehi oversees a section between Provo and Salt Lake City, while Woods Cross oversees a section from Salt Lake City to Ogden. Both cities were told about issues with multiple crossings earlier in 2024; multiple cities reported that they were working to correct those issues when the zones were abruptly suspended at the end of September.
The suspension meant all commuter and freight trains were required to sound their horns at every crossing in both zones. Scott Murff, of Lehi, is one of several residents who said it caused sleep issues because train operators would sound their horns at all hours of the day and night.
"The first night, I tossed and turned. It was either the first or second night that I was looking for a place to go avoid the noise to get back to sleep," he told KSL.com in October.
He used U.S. Census Bureau data to estimate that over 30,000 people live within 1,000 feet of the region's crossings.
It's unclear when the Salt Lake City to Ogden section will be reinstated, but Salt Lake City officials posted a link to a joint waiver it and North Salt Lake sent the Federal Railroad Administration seeking a faster solution to crossings that have held up the northern Utah section. The waiver is currently in a public comment period that ends on Jan. 21 before a final decision.
Salt Lake City leaders voted last month to authorize an emergency closure of a crossing on 1000 West to help speed the process up, finding it would be faster to close the road and repair the crossing than wait to repair it.
This story may be updated.