The City of Menlo Park announced that it plans to adopt a Quiet Zone within the city following a study by engineering consultants from Kimley-Horn and Associates. In a Quiet Zone, the operator of the train is instructed to only sound the horns when approaching the station, or if there is a safety concern. When implemented, Caltrain will no longer blow its horns at crossings in Menlo Park, creating a quieter atmosphere for residents. Menlo Park completed the planning phase in 2023, and is expected to start construction in spring 2026 and finish in fall 2026.
The city plans to complete this project by converting two of its four train crossings into Quadrant gate systems, which include four grade-level crossings. Even though the city is only reconstructing two crossings, the whole city will become a quiet zone due to a significant risk reduction. This means that residents will noticeably be less likely to get injured by the trains. In the case of quadrant gates, there is a smaller likelihood of cars getting stuck on the tracks because the traffic lanes are fully blocked when the trains pass by.
The four train crossings in Menlo Park include Encinal Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, Oak Grove Avenue, and Ravenswood Avenue. The decision to upgrade two of these crossings came from the city’s Quiet Zone Implementation Plan. This study serves as a recommendation to the city on what should be done.
The city’s Quiet Zone Implementation Plan presents traffic volumes in all of Menlo Park’s four train crossings. It concludes that Ravenswood Avenue and Oak Grove Avenue have the highest pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle count overall, and therefore would provide the best outcome of risk reduction for the city’s residents.
Based on this research, Kimley-Horn and associates suggest upgrading two of the four crossings. In the study they said, “For the four crossings in the City of Menlo Park, Kimley-Horn recommends upgrading Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood Avenue. This determination is twofold: not only does this alternative have the lowest cost implication, at roughly $4,200,000, it also has the greatest risk reduction for these four crossings.”
This upgrade will involve installing two additional gates to the Oak Grove Avenue and Ravenswood Avenue train crossings to make them quadrant gates. Once completed, the city will then check with the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether these improvements meet the requirements for a city-wide Quiet Zone. The rough estimated cost for this project is $4.2 million.
| Menlo Park Crossing Roadway Name | Total Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Vehicle Count |
| Encinal Ave | 5,143 |
| Glenwood Ave | 5,844 |
| Oak Grove Ave | 9,756 |
| Ravenswood Ave | 18,060 |
However, community members hold varying viewpoints on Menlo Park’s decision to turn the city into a Quiet Zone.
Jenny Michel was one of multiple community members who replied to the M-A Chronicle’s Nextdoor post asking the community for their thoughts on the city’s Quiet Zone decision. She explained that for her son the train horns are not disruptive but instead desired. “Our son, who attends Hillview, is hearing impaired and the train audibles are a source of comfort and happiness. He grew up hearing the train horns because his dad, my husband, worked in SF and commuted via Caltrain for many years. For a long time our son could not hear anything, so the old F40’s were a sign that dad was coming home!”
Michel also added that the train horns are a big part of her day to day accessibility. “I’m a disabled worker and must take transit over a vehicle to get around. The horn of the train is important for me to know when the train is arriving and leaving. Many times I’ve missed my train due to the bus being late and don’t always have a visual of the train,” Michel wrote.
In contrast, senior Stephen Cheung explained that his elderly neighbors find the train horns irritating. “My neighborhood has a lot of elderly people, and they do complain about the noise, and it causes a lot of vibrations can wake you up in the middle of the night,” Cheung said.
Many Menlo Park residents have attended City Council meetings to share their opinion on the need for a city-wide Quiet Zone. Cheung added that one of his elderly neighbors advocated for making Caltrain quieter. “One of my neighbors is 90 and his wife passed away a few years ago. I think she was pretty big on trying to get the trains to be more quiet, and she advocated for that,” Cheung said.
Bruce Smith, M-A’s swim team head coach, said that he’s gotten used to the noise—though it still affects him. He wasn’t sleeping well at night and decided to purchase an Oura ring to track his sleep behavior. “I found out that there is a freight train that goes through every day at 2 a.m. because my Oura ring was showing that I was waking up,” Smith said. He has tried multiple ways to block out the horn’s blow such as earplugs and white noise.
“When I first moved about 10 years ago, there were some deaths on the railroad, and so they had the trains all lift their horns up to make it louder. And boy, that that really affected, you know, my sleep a tremendous amount, because it just became so much more amplified,” Smith added.
Quiet Zones are becoming increasingly popular in urban areas as communities recognize the benefits of reducing noise pollution. By improving residents’ quality of life by creating calmer neighborhoods, this shows an important step in making these cities more livable.
