The trains used to run through Saratoga in the daytime but a recent schedule change has them rolling through town between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. Safety regulations require that the trains blast their horns at railroad crossings.

"I want them to go back to the daytime schedule so we can get some sleep here," Leisia said. "At night it's so quiet everywhere else that the sound just reverberates."

Terry Mudrock also lives near the railroad tracks. "These things are just rumbling through here like there's no tomorrow," he said. "It's disrupting one's sleep. Saratoga is a wonderful community and then all of a sudden we're in the freight yards."

The trains have been running to and from the Hanson Permanente quarry for years but it has been only recently that Union Pacific has changed to nighttime runs. Hanson Permanente community affairs manager John Giovanola said his company would rather have the trains come to the quarry in the afternoon. "We're talking to [Union Pacific] about changing their schedule," he said. "I hope they would but I couldn't predict when that might be. We haven't found the secret to get it done yet."

Mark Davis, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said the switch from a daytime to a night-time schedule was possibly due to local resource requirements at the railroad, but that the trains do not run on fixed schedules. "We are constantly evaluating train schedules and how we're able to serve [our customers] with the resources available," he said.

Davis said that Union Pacific receives complaints about noise from all over the country. "Usually what happens is the cities will contact the railroad government affairs people at Union Pacific and then the process to find a solution starts," he said. "The first step would be to sit down with the railroad to see if the resources are available to change the schedule." But Davis said it is not always possible to change the schedules and that this is a reason the railroad generally opposes building homes near railroad crossings. "Right now all train crew members have to warn people is their bell and the horns. It's extremely tragic when someone disregards the warning devices that are at the crossing and are struck by a train."

Davis said a possible solution is for the community to work with the Federal Railroad Administration and Union Pacific for the establishment of what are called quiet zones. Quiet zones allow for the mitigation of train horn blasts at crossings if certain safety measures are in place to compensate for the absence of the horn as a warning device. "It's a great responsibility for the communities to take on the quiet zone guidelines and rules," Davis said.

Saratoga code compliance specialist Janna Rinaldi said that since the trains changed to a nighttime schedule the city has received around 15 complaints concerning the horn blasts. Rinaldi is currently in the preliminary stages of researching what can be done. "I've been actively researching establishing a quiet zone through the neighborhoods where the railroad runs through," she said. "I think that everyone wants to cooperate and work together to have a happy resolution."

Mayor Kathleen King said the establishment of quiet zones is currently looking like the best option.

For the time being, Leasia and Mudrock and their neighbors along the railroad tracks will have to try sleeping through those late-night horn blasts.