Railway to start running freight trains past my home.........

Sensible_Jess

Hi All

I've found out that the railway that runs along the bottom of my garden is gearing up to run freight trains - probably overnight. :eek: Currently, it's a rural line that runs two trains an hour from 6am to midnight during the week and half that on the weekend.

I found this out as I got a 'note' through my door from Network rail saying they were carrying out 'upgrade works' to the line for a few days and apologising for the noise whilst the work was being carried out. No other details were given, just some spiel about how this was part of a plan to 'improve Britain's railways'.:rotfl:

I smelt a rat and through many hours of web searching have discovered the intention to start running freight trains on the line at some future point (no date specified). The trains will be re-routed from a busier route used currently...This information was not directly through Network Rail's website using the reference number I had been given or my council's website which held no information at all on the 'upgrade works', it was through searching the web for information about 'my' railway and looking at various 'Strategic Freight Network' documents outlining future plans (most recent was from March 2011).

I only moved here a year ago!:( I am really upset.

I moved from a house that also had the same line running at the bottom of the garden so I know that no 'official' consultation has been carried out with affected homeowners either by the council or Network Rail regarding this change (in the past 10 years or so). I've had a look at the searches carried out when I bought my home and there's nothing there either.

I think this will not only make living here unpleasant due to new train noise throughout the night, but it will also devalue the house significantly. I am also worried about the effect the passing freight might have on the foundations of the house too.

I guess I want to gauge opinion of fellow MSE-ers:
Should this have showed up on the searches when I bought the house?
Do Network Rail have to consult before they bring in what is effectively a dramatic change to the use of the railway line? Am I entitled to any compensation?
If I sell, would I have to declare this information? (bearing in mind it was very hard to find, buried as it was in 150+ page documents and it didn't show up in my searches)

I don't really want to move, as well as loving the house, I'm on a fixed rate and will incur large penalty fees. But I'm not going to sit and wait for my house to lose value as well as having freight trains going past all night every night.
Has anyone any experience of this and can help?
What would you do if you were in my position?

Thanks
S-J

goosander

I wouldn't worry about it, its unlikely that there will be that many freight trains running over night and you probably won't even notice them. My mums house is next to a railway line and when I stay over, I've found you hardly even notice the trains, they are much less intrusuve than traffic noise.

property.advert

If my lawyer found out that you had trains running past your house then I may decline to buy or offer a lower price. If this was known 12 months ago then your lawyer should have spotted it. If he didn't do the right searches, then he's negligent.

cardinalbiggles

property.advert wrote: »

If my lawyer found out that you had trains running past your house then I may decline to buy or offer a lower price. If this was known 12 months ago then your lawyer should have spotted it. If he didn't do the right searches, then he's negligent.

To be fair if you buy a house with rail lines at the bottom of the garden you can expect trains to run on them.

Its like people who buy a house then get upset when someone builds in front of it, if you dont want your view spoiled buy the land in front as well. If you dont want to hear trains then dont buy a house near a railway.

Freight trains may have a lower speed than passenger trains so may be quieter as well.

DVardysShadow

Sensible_Jess wrote: »

I moved from a house that also had the same line running at the bottom of the garden so I know that no 'official' consultation has been carried out with affected homeowners either by the council or Network Rail regarding this change (in the past 10 years or so). I've had a look at the searches carried out when I bought my home and there's nothing there either.

So, being Sensible_Jess, you were already aware of the railway, even without the searches?

But, you have ASSUMED that there would be a particular level of use of the railway, rather than considering the possibility that this could change. As far as your conveyancer is concerned, if you knew there was a railway, why should the conveyancer assume anything other than trains could run at any time?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

To be fair if you buy a house with rail lines at the bottom of the garden you can expect trains to run on them.

Its like people who buy a house then get upset when someone builds in front of it, if you dont want your view spoiled buy the land in front as well. If you dont want to hear trains then dont buy a house near a railway.
.

This does my head in.

People that buy houses near pubs, then complain about noise. Or buy houses near airports, then complain about noise. etc.

G_M

Freight on railways is far more environmentally friendly, as well as cheaper, than road transport. It also reduces congestion on our clogged up roads.

So I see this as a good sign.

Running_Horse

If rail noise bothered me I wouldn't buy a house with a railway line at the bottom of the garden.

Do you normally only sleep from midnight to 6am?

Unless you are a particularly light sleeper, I would not worry and just live with it.

Sensible_Jess

Thanks for the responses so far:
Just to reply to a few points:

goosander wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it, its unlikely that there will be that many freight trains running over night and you probably won't even notice them. .

These are half mile long Channel Tunnel freight trains I think I will notice them! They will be running overnight - not during the day as the line can't cope with additional trains on top of the existing passenger trains that run.

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

To be fair if you buy a house with rail lines at the bottom of the garden you can expect trains to run on them.

Freight trains may have a lower speed than passenger trains so may be quieter as well.

Fair first point - although my point is this line is currently not used at night. I am not so sure about the second - freight trains don't have to stop at stations!

DVardysShadow wrote: »

So, being Sensible_Jess, you were already aware of the railway, even without the searches?

Yes - as I said - I lived along the same railway before moving last year. I haven't assumed anything - I already knew how many trains used the tracks during the day and what the noise was like. The searches didn't uncover that this was about to change for the worse. And a train line at the end of your garden is a bit hard to miss!!:)

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

This does my head in.

People that buy houses near pubs, then complain about noise. Or buy houses near airports, then complain about noise. etc.

I see your point - However, if the you bought near a pub which closed at 11pm and then it got a license to play music until 2am? In that scenario you'd at least get a chance to object to the council. It seems like the residents along the line aren't being consulted and won't know about the freight trains until it's too late. Is that fair?

I like the rail line as it is as I'm not overlooked and the noise is minimal during the day and non existent overnight. I'm also used to the trains and thought I knew what to expect as I've lived at the end of the same railway in my last house too - see my first post. What I object to is this now changing dramatically - not just more trains but freight trains going past all through the night.
I wondered if anyone one here might have had some similar experiences and how they dealt with it.


S-J

Morglin

I lived with a rail-line at the bottom of my (long) garden for many years. You do get used to the freight trains, and there are not generally that many running through the night - the odd one used to shake my house though!:eek:

The thing I found the biggest pain when they did some sort of overnight work, which seemed to involved using some sort of explosives (not sure what they were doing), and it used to be like living in Beirut.........:eek::mad:

Not so great when you have to get up for work in the morning.

We also lived on the flightpath for London City Airport, and the main A20 was a few hundred yards away, at the front of the building lol

I actually found the noise ok, and hated it when we moved to a village - the quiet literally did my head in - and I'm glad to be back where there is some noise and life.

I don't actually think that residents have to be consulted about what traffic is allowed on railway lines, but you could check with your local council.

Lin

Davesnave

I lived for a year next to a railway which had overnight traffic, including very long stone wagon trains and maintenance gangs.

At first they woke me, but I soon 'learned' that they were nothing to wake-up for, and after that they scarcely registered. I think if I'd been angry about them, and upset every time one passed, this learning process would have taken longer, or might even have failed

It's rather like people's reactions to cockerel noise, which is longer lasting, and which those of us in the countryside take for granted, or don't, with similar consequences. It can be a shock, to some, finding that all hell breaks loose on the pretty farm next door at 4am! :rotfl:

Will this devalue your house? Hard to say. Railway lines are generally regarded as a Bad Thing, unless it's a holiday line with steam trains and the like, when agents make it a desirable feature. However some time ago we had a 'railway line at the bottom of the garden' debate here, and many saw positives in it, or at least few negatives. There are certainly worse things that can affect people's sleep patterns, especially random ones.