The chances of getting train horns turned off in Bakersfield look dimmer, after a railroad company comes out with their opinion. In November Bakersfield officials demanded the horns be shut down on January first -- but they got a letter this week that's disappointing news.

"Yes, it is a disappointment," Bakersfield Public Works Director Raul Rojas told Eyewitness News. "We were hoping to get a little bit of a reprieve before, so we could study -- and understand what the costs would be."

The city has been looking at the costs of complying with new federal regulations to get what's called a "quiet zone." The new rule went on the books in 2005.

But, in the meantime the city had also aruged there had been a practice of not blowing train horns through Bakersfield -- and they wanted that immedidately reinstated while they studied requirements for a permanent quiet zone under the new Federal Railroad Administration rule.

But, on December 26th the city got a copy of a letter sent to the FRA by the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad Company. "Per our calculations the City will need to implement one or more safety measures in the proposed pre-rule quiet zone to meet the requirements of the FRA Final Horn Rule," reads the letter.

The letter concludes by stating: "We will await the FRA's final decisions and direction before we discontinue blowing the horn." An FRA spokesman in Washington told Eyewitness News on Friday the agency has not reached a decision yet.

City officials say they plan to study meeting the Final Horn Rule requirements for a quiet zone, but they still don't know how much it would cost to install the safety equipment.

Those safety improvements could include better gates at railroad crossing, better warning systems, or closing off some streets that cross the tracks.

But, the railroad letter seems to dash hopes of quicker relief from the horns. "Based on that letter they won't turn off the horns until the improvements are complete," says Rojas.

"It's ridiculous," says Dave Torres who lives a couple blocks north of the tracks in central Bakersfield. "I'm hearing whistles blowing at 2:00 in the morning. And they're loud, I can't open my windows."

Torres says he was an railroad engineer for 30 years, and he's convinced there was a practice of not sounding the horn in Bakersfield. "It was absolutely against the rules to blow the whistle across town. Only in an emergency," says Torres.

In November, the city sent a letter to the FRA arguing just that. They included pages from a railroad company memo that says in Bakersfield "...engine whistles will not be blown."

But the FRA tells Eyewitness News, there must be proof of what they call a "legacy whistle ban." And as for the City's request to reinstate any previous horn ban -- the official says the FRA's decision will be "forthcoming."

Public Works Director Raul Rojas says the city plans pursue work on a permanent quiet zone under the new rule. The city will file what's called a "Notice of Intent" by this February and file a final plan by June.

But hopes are dimmed for immediate relief from the horns. "Right now, the way I understand the letter -- they will not turn off the horns until they are told otherwise by the federal government," says Rojas.