Responding to complaints from sleep-deprived residents living near the train tracks in and around Windsor, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit has suspended three early morning, southbound trips.

The move comes just a few weeks after SMART, with considerable pomp, opened its Windsor station May 31. Not all residents, however, are jubilant.

Trains leaving the new station are required by the Federal Railroad Administration to sound their horns as they approach at-grade intersections between Windsor and Shiloh Road. Romanticized though they may be in county music lyrics, those train whistles — especially from the SMART trips departing Windsor at 4:35 a.m., 4:58 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. — have been doing a number on the slumber of many people living along that corridor.

By popular demand, and at the request of the Windsor Town Council, SMART has suspended those three pre-6 a.m. trips, starting today.

“We understand and respect the town’s request for a temporary suspension of early morning train service while they work to establish a quiet zone,” SMART spokesperson Julia Gonzalez said Friday.

Windsor is applying for the Federal Railroad Administration to establish a designated quiet zone, which would allow SMART engineers to lay off their horns. But that process requires approval from both the FRA and the California Public Utilities Commission, requiring a 60-day review period “for recipients to review and provide any comments,” Carl Euphrat, Windsor’s deputy director of engineering, said a May 29 memo.

According to SMART, Windsor “is currently targeting late July for the implementation of the quiet zone.” The suspended trips out of Windsor will continue to depart from the Sonoma County Airport Station, one stop to the south, at their regularly scheduled times. Once the quiet zone is approved — much like other similar zones along the two-county line — “routine train horn use at designated crossings will be eliminated, except in emergency or safety-critical situations,” the agency said.

About six years ago, a spate of deaths along the rail line — four in 16 days — prompted SMART board members to reexamine its decision to allow quiet zones, which were preserved following a wide-ranging review. The three early-morning trains out of Windsor will go back into service once the quiet zone is established, said Gonzalez.

In the meantime, she added, Windsor is shaping up to be one of SMART’s highest performing stations. She said the station had an average of 424 daily boarding for the week of June 9 to 15, including 724 boardings on June 13, the day of the station’s ceremonial opening event.

“On weekends we are averaging 378 daily boardings at Windsor,” she said.