Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss responded to the rising level of complaints from sleepless county residents by writing a letter to Union Pacific and sending copies to several public officials, including state Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After receiving Kniss' letter, Lieber called Union Pacific special representative Wayne Horiuchi. "[Lieber] contacted Wayne Horiuchi and had a conversation with him in which he made a commitment to her that Union Pacific would make a couple of changes that would enable them to stop running the night trains and go back to a daytime schedule," Monica Smith, Lieber's district director, said.

"Sometimes it's very effective when a legislator calls," she said.

Saratoga resident Nancy Leasia said she has no problems with the trains when they go by her home during the day on their way up to the Hanson Permanente quarry. But last spring when they began rumbling by in the late hours of the night, the horn blasts disrupted her sleep.

Leasia said she has been sleeping easier since the trains returned to a daytime schedule about three weeks ago. "Every time I hear it go by in the day I just cheer," she said. "I've been very happy. I've been sleeping."

Horiuchi said the trains going up to the Hanson Permanente quarry would remain on a daytime schedule while Union Pacific evaluates its options. He said a variety of factors make it cost effective for Union Pacific to run the trains at night and that additional daytime costs will probably be passed on to the shipper and the community, or Union Pacific might turn over the run to Hanson Permanente to a third party.

"We have all the right in the world to operate at night but we want to be a good corporate citizen," Horiuchi said. "The main issue is that homes should not have allowed to be built next to our right-of-way. The people who buy the homes need to accept some responsibility, too. It's like buying homes next to an interstate freeway."

Saratoga code compliance specialist Jana Rinaldi said complaints to the city about noise from trains have stopped since Union Pacific went back to a daytime schedule. "It's been quiet on the home front," she said. She said she is continuing to research quiet zones and other ways to keep the noise from trains from being a source of complaints but said the best solution would be for the trains to remain on a daytime schedule.

"We won't be seeing trains going back to a night schedule soon," Horiuchi said, "but you will see the cost of cement going up."