Noise from trains! Can I do anything?

BobProperty

dougk wrote:

I really get annoyed when people want to complain about noise form exsisting scenarios like, airports, main roads ,train lines and motor racing circuits. When looking at houses don't people consider this and 9 out of 10 times the house is "cheaper" because of it.
Personally my feeling is the law should state that there is no redress for owners who purchase properties after the exsisting "noise source" is there and to expect a reasonable increase in noise and traffic due to increased use in the future (i.e airport expansions etc).
If you had a home buyers report I bet the survey mentioned the noise from the railway in the report?

Completely agree with you there. It really annoyed me that people were complaining about the expansion of Manchester Airport when that was proposed a few years back. Like, you hadn't noticed it until you got a planning notice? Or you thought air travel was a passing phase and would soon die out?
I'm like a few others on here, I'm right next to a railway line. You get used to it. As I've got the windows open at present, I can hear the platform announcements too. :eek:

Jorgan_2

Your best bet is to complain to the environmental health department of your local council, they will be able to advise you if there is anything you can do. I am with a few others on this in that if the railway line was in place before you bought then you can't realy complain.

How anyone can even suggest sueing the previous owner is beyound me, how is the vendor to know the future timetables for the rail & freight comapnies that use the line? Half of them can't stick to their current timetables anyway.

courtjester

From what I can remember of my dim and distant law studies, I seem to recall that the civil law of 'nuisance' which incorporates such things as noise disturbance and vibration, does not provide for any actionable offence after a certain period - if the 'nuisance' has been in existence for 20 years+ which most raliway lines in this country have, then there can be no legal claim for damages.

It is *not* however a defence to the nuisance maker that the complainant came to the nuisance instead of the other way round - which many people would find illogical.

In addition, almost certainly any railway operator would be granted statutory rights to run a railway and statutory defences (i.e immunity) from any nuisance caused in the normal course of doing so, which means that no claim can be made against them for the inevitable consequences such as noise as this would not be in the larger public interest.

JennyW_2

Jorgan wrote:

how is the vendor to know the future timetables for the rail & freight comapnies that use the line? Half of them can't stick to their current timetables anyway.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

hazeyj

I am sure that if a train passes by a residential area then it must stick to a certain speed. We lived opposite a train station in our old flat and when trains went through at slower speeds like the really long night trains it really made a difference to the noise levels. I am sure there would some watchdog who looks after speed restriction stuff like that.

MrPayless

Court Jester and Hazey

Thanks for the info (instead of telling me off like most other posters decided to do! - yes I know I should have been more careful when buying but I was not aware of the late night freight activity when buying and when I viewed the place, the commuter trains where bearable!).

The reason I brought this topic up is that whilst Im ready to accept commuter trains, I really do think that the freight trains may be breaking some law as the activity levels and the noise generated seems too high to be acceptable.
Thanks again.

tonyivb

We have a railway behind our rented house, and like many other posters have pointed out, it was much cheaper because of this.

I'm no train spotter, but it appears that the freight trains use more noisy diesel locomotives, and as they are slower you hear them for longer.

If you have noticed a recent increase in activity this could be due to the usual stretch of track being repaired & trains being diverted down your way?

As for doing something about it... I would say that you should start to keep a log of incidents and then go to your council's Environmental Health department and/or the CAB.

PoorDave

Freight trains are worse because they're heavier - all that frieght! They go slower, so take longer to pass you, making more of a disruptance.

I also used to live near a railway line, and I found the worst thing was the early morning express in summer (windows open at night), which used to sound it's horn at the station we were quite near.

I never expected to be able to do anything about it though!

astonsmummy

We had a train track at the end of our garden when i was growing uo (london to brighton line) and there was constantly trains going backwards and forwards, you do get used to it - we never even had double glazing.
As far as freight trains, we used to get them stopping right at the back of our house and that was loud! but managed to sleep through that eventually too!

BobProperty

Three points:
To the OP as Lillyann said, will you be telling prospective purchasers of this problem without prompting?

I'd love an old railway property, next to a working or closed line, they were usually really well built and have a lot of character.

The 3am night frieght will probably be nuclear fuel / waste :eek: