Train Noise/Horn Complaint

The City has no legal authority to regulate train noise, trains are regulated at the federal level. If you believe that a train operator is violating federal laws relating to noise, you can file a complaint with the Federal Railroad Administration using the following link: https://www.fra.dot.gov/app/violationreport

 The Union Pacific Railroad, the railroad that owns the tracks in South St. Paul, has provided the following information regarding horn blowing:

 Horn Blowing (General) 

There are many reasons why we sound the locomotive horn and all of them have to do with safety. Our goal is for no one to get hurt. To this end, it is required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that locomotive horns be sounded at all public, and in some cases private, crossings 15-20 seconds before entering a crossing, day or night. If there are multiple street crossings in close proximity of each other, the horn will need to be sounded for each of them.

Per FRA mandate, the pattern for blowing the horn remains two long, one short, and one long sounding to be repeated as necessary until the locomotive clears the crossing, https://railroads.dot.gov/highway-rail-crossing-and-trespasser-programs/train-horn-rulequiet-zones/train-horn-rule-and-quiet.. The decibel level for the locomotive horns is also established by the FRA.
 
Here is a link that explains more about the usage of horns by Union Pacific: https://www.up.com/customers/track-record/tr101620-train-safety-horns-signals.htm which may be useful to you.
 
Locomotive engineers are mandated to sound their horns for specified reasons as stated above, but also retain the authority to do so in emergency situations, such as when an animal, trespasser, or vehicle may be on the tracks, or in the vicinity of where maintenance work is being performed.