“We cannot sleep with the windows open,” said Grace O’Connor, who has lived there for 16 years and only noticed an increase in the noise in the last six weeks. Her husband, Patrick, noted that the noise had grown “to the point of outrageous,” and often causes embarrassing interruptions in the business calls he fields at home.
   Tosh Sheridan, who has lived in the building since 2001, agreed. “You live by the trains, you expect to hear the trains,” he said, but added that it has been more excessive lately.
   The Long Island Rail Road confirmed that there is track work being conducted in the area and trains are thus required by federal law to sound their horns when they pass by.
   Susan McGowan, a spokeswoman for the railroad, said the tracks behind Sunnyside Towers have been undergoing maintenance upgrades all summer, including switches and tie replacements, switch inspections and drainage work. Some work is performed during the weekday, she said, but much is done on the weekends and overnight when there are fewer trains. “Most of this work should be winding down by the end of the year,” she added.
   There is also a graffiti covered train car situated between two tracks, which many residents suspect causes the engineers to blow their horn.
   However, McGowan indicated the car is a tanker filled with water and purposefully left on site in case of emergencies. McGowan indicated there would be no reason for the trains to blow their horn at the tanker.
   But something is making them blow their horns nonetheless. On a recent Friday afternoon before rush hour began, approximately a dozen trains passed by the building, and a handful of them blew their horns even though there were no workers visible on the tracks.
   Ayne Horyn, a 20 year resident of the building, finally started complaining last week to the railroad about the noise. By the weekend, nighttime horn blowing had mostly subsided, at least temporarily. Horyn also consulted with a noise expert to find out how the horns could be affecting her health.
   Les Blomberg is the executive director of the Noise Pollution Clearing House based in Montpelier, Vt. He said that even intermittent noise can have a negative effect on residents, and one that isn’t always recognized by the industry. “In the recent train horn study that the (Federal Railroad Administration) did, they wouldn’t even say that train horns wake people up, but they absolutely do,” he added.
   Assuming that a Sunnyside Towers resident is 100 feet away from the train horn when it blows, Blomberg estimates the sound they hear is likely around 110 decibels—as loud as a rock concert and about 30 times louder than a normal conversation.
   Even if residents are able to sleep through the sound, Blomberg added, their bodies still respond with a little burst of adrenaline, interrupting their sleep cycle. “Whether they acclimate or not, there are going to be some lingering effects to it,” he said.
   McGowan said the railroad tries to be good neighbors, but residents have to expect a certain level of noise. “As a railroad, we’re obligated first of all to comply with FRA regulations regarding horn blowing and we’re obligated to maintain our tracks and our entire infrastructure for the safety for our customers.”
   Residents would still like the railroad to do more to protect their quality of life. One resident suggested a signal of lights instead of horns, or quieter horns. Another resident is Paul Toomey, who lives on the fifth floor and can see the tracks about 100 feet from his windows. He works nights and tries to sleep during the day. Toomey would like the Long Island Rail Road to “show a little bit of respect or build a wall to deflect the sound.”