BEAUMONT — Residents all over Beaumont and especially those in the area of Seventh Street and Interstate 10 awoke early Wednesday morning to the sound of a train horn blaring over... and over... and over for several hours.
Callers to the 12News newsroom, several who contacted 12News via email and social media and those who spoke on camera said that they heard the horn starting after 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.
One man told 12News he heard it blaring continuously for more than 30 minutes this morning.
12News located a BNSF train sitting on tracks owned by Union Pacific next to the Knife River concrete plant along North 7th Street just north of Interstate 10 and Beaumont's Old Town neighborhood.
A truck driver in the area confirmed that it's horn had been sound ing since around at least 5:30 a.m.
When 12News found the train before 7 a.m. the horn would sound for about a minute and a half every few minutes.
At least one of the three locomotives on the train appeared to be running though the horn seemed to only sound on one of them.
No crew was visible around or on the train which was sitting just over 1500 feet from the BNSF rail yard at 2101 Louisiana Street.
12News reached out to both Union Pacific, which owns the track, and BNSF which owns the train.
A Union Pacific representative took note of the issue and after searching was surprised to find no other calls about the issue.
12News spoke to BNSF spokesperson Joe Faust who said that a mechanical team was dispatched to fix the issue as soon as they could.
"The electronic train horn malfunctioned due to a positive train control, or PTC, issue," said BNSF spokesperson Joe Faust.
Just before 8 a.m. a worker in an unmarked SUV arrived, got on one of the locomotives for a few minutes and left. The horn did not sound again after the worker left.
12news asked Faust why it took almost three hours long to get someone to fix the issue when there was a BNSF facility so close. We are waiting on an answer.
A Beaumont city code states train horns are not be sounded from "9 p.m. - 6 a.m. except when there is imminent danger of an accident."
Federal, however, law still requires trains to sound their horn at crossings unless a specific "quiet zone" has been established according to Faust.
Even though a train may not be moving it is often required to sound the horn when near a crossing if it is preparing to move Faust told 12News.