Railway Work Noise

w_i_l_l

Hi,

We've got a railway line that runs along the side of our garden. Network Rail are working on the line in order to add a double track. The construction noise is phenomenal and on-going through the day and night, we literally haven't slept (or just the odd hour) for 2-3 months. Everyone we contact through either the council or Network Rail is trying their best not to be helpful or give compensation.

Could anyone give advice on who to contact regarding compensation? Or how we should go about it? It really is ridiculous. Not to mention the 20 cars parked outside, the litter and human excrement along the line.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

fluffnutter

What financial losses have you incurred?

What specifically have you asked and what's the response been when you've contacted Network Rail? Ditto council.

What proof do you have of 'human excrement'? Ditto litter.

Where are the cars parked? Are they taxed and parked legally on the road?

Fosterdog

I don't know what can be done about the noise if anything but if the litter is on the line then it's private property so nothing will be done about it.

Same with the human excremant, whenever a toilet is flushed on a train the contents are emptied onto the tracks so it would have always been there and will continue as long as they have the current toilet systems on trains.

As said above if the cars are parked legally there is nothing you can do. It sounds like an inconvenience but completely legal

fluffnutter

The litter and excrement issue is an interesting one. OP, are you saying that this is as a result of the current construction work or is it always like this?

Hintza

w_i_l_l wrote: »

The construction noise is phenomenal and on-going through the day and night, we literally haven't slept (or just the odd hour) for 2-3 months.

Thank your lucky stars they are doing it as fast as possible as most rail works just tend to be done at night.

Was you house not cheaper because it was next to the railway?

dshart

I think you will struggle to get anything from them from my experience. I had a similar issue where I live next door to a small station and they were carrying out upgrade work over a period of several months. They started work each night at 11pm and went through till 6am in the morning, with generators, angle grinders, hammers etc. and a work force that were not very quiet.

I complained to them and they stated that they had sent notice of the works in advance to all nearby properties, although for some strange reason we never received this notification even though we are the closest house to the station.

I also complained to the council environmental health department who sent someone out. They were very sympathetic and agreed that the level of noise was unacceptable but in the end they said that network rail for safety reasons were allowed to carry out this work at night when there were no trains running.

I could have tried to get a court injunction to stop the work as with proper planning the work could have been carried out through the day. But when I looked into it it would have taken so long to get the injunction that they would have finished the work by then. I think that was why they neglected to inform me in advance.

You should push the council to send out an environmental health person out and impress on them that the noise is continuous. If the work still has several months to run you could try the court route but this might cost you a bit as I found none of the no win no fee solicitors was interested. I guess the main thing is trying to prove how disruptive the noise is.

If others feel the same as well you could try to put together some joint action and also speak to your MP.

w_i_l_l

Er, not sure what the house being cheaper because it's next to a railway has to do with anything. The house has been here and in the family for 300 years. The railway has been here for 100 or so. So the railway has devalued the house and now the double track is devaluing it more.

The litter is on the road outside of the house so not on our land. The excrement is on the bank and off the bank onto council land... this is not usually here... I've never in my 32 years of being here seen the slightest trace of excrement from a train toilet flushing.

The noise is of an unnecessary level though because a lot of it is due to the contractors just having a laugh at 2am. I generally think that they could be more considerate and plan the work in a different way... I mean why start angle grinding at 5am then leave all the quiet work until the afternoon? Makes no sense.

The house is also vibrating from time to time and a wall has fallen down due to vibration. Not even sure who this wall belongs to... us or the railways. There's an on-going dispute... basically it's their wall until it needs rebuilding, then oooo it's now our wall. The cars are parked outside of our gate along the grass verge, not on our land but generally dangerously parked.

I've got photos/photos videos of the litter and noise.

vaio

Fosterdog wrote: »

I don't know what can be done about the noise if anything but if the litter is on the line then it's private property so nothing will be done about it.

Same with the human excremant, whenever a toilet is flushed on a train the contents are emptied onto the tracks so it would have always been there and will continue as long as they have the current toilet systems on trains......

I'd have thought the works would be subject to the CDM regs and normal noise nuisance rules although the "greater good" theory might kick in.

Network rail will have have rules requiring welfare facilities/chemical toilets etc so I'm surprised about the human excrement, I doubt it's from trains as they've had holding tanks for at least the last couple of decades

yangptangkipperbang

vaio wrote: »

I doubt it's from trains as they've had holding tanks for at least the last couple of decades

There are still plenty of trains which have no holding tanks. 150s, 153s, 158s for a start. FGW operate all these classes - if the OP is referring to the Swindon/Kemble work.

DCFC79

vaio wrote: »

I'd have thought the works would be subject to the CDM regs and normal noise nuisance rules although the "greater good" theory might kick in.

I also would have thought there would be restrictions what hours of day the wrk could be done.

pimento

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

There are still plenty of trains which have no holding tanks. 150s, 153s, 158s for a start. FGW operate all these classes - if the OP is referring to the Swindon/Kemble work.

The Greater Anglia trains spill their toilet waste straight onto the tracks, too.