Looking at a flat next to rail station - do trees/shrubs and elevation help with noise?

Ares_Nautica

Hi all,

I'm a FTB looking at buying my first property (flat) around the West Midlands. I've found a really nice 2 bed flat, but it's facing the rail track. I've looked at a flat in a new-build development before, but it was literally only 20m facing the railtrack and it immediately put me off. See here.

What makes the flat I'm looking at different is that the train tracks next to it are on a lower elevation, and there is a significant amount of trees/shrubbery between the apartment block and the train tracks. It's also slightly further away by 10m (30m). See here. Realistically however, I'm wondering how much of a difference this would make to the noise from the trains? I've checked the schedule for the line the trains are on outside the flat, and they start from around 6 in the morning until mid-night every half an hour. Saturday is pretty similar, on Sunday trains don't start until 9 onwards. The trains at the next station after (here), start roughly every 15 minutes, which sort of works in my favour as more trains terminate/start here but it won't affect me.

I don't think the tracks for this line are used for freight but I can't confirm that. The apartment block seems to be right in the middle of the distance of it's two closest stations which I'm guessing is better than being closer to the stations. I'm not expecting total silence but if what I've described helps I will put it in the "pros" section of this flat.

MaryNB

I think it mainly depends on your tolerance for noise. I'm a very light sleeper so what I would consider unacceptable, others would be perfectly fine with.  I could never live on a main road even if using ear plugs while obviously plenty of people live in houses along main roads. 

Have you been able to stand in that general area as trains are passing? It's hard to judge because the noise you would tolerate during the day would be different to what you would tolerate when trying to sleep. At least it would give you an idea though. I wouldn't imagine 10m away would have any impact and those trees might be bare in winter (if they make a significant difference to begin with). 

teachfast

You need to visit and see the level of noise at various times

root

I would imagine there would be an element of 'vibration' through the place too, not just noise?

MovingForwards

My flat has a busy / main Trainline at the end of the garden (each of us in the block have a private garden within our land boundary) and down a dip. It's not anything I notice and when someone last posted up I had to actively listen for the trains going by to say what I could hear.

I don't get woken by them, I've my windows open and don't notice them going by while working at home. When I'm in my garden all I hear are birds chirping away hoping I dig something nice up for them.

I don't even feel any vibration while inside or outside.

As others have said, go and listen, see what you think.

edgex

Ah, next to the northern part of the Cross-City line.

Ignore the current timetable, it's been a reduced service due to Covid19, & there is new stock arriving to improve the service.
It's an electrified line, so quieter than if it was diesel. No freight, nowhere for it to go! There will be maintenance trains & line-cleaning trains.


You would want to check the windows, & what sort of ventilation there is.

jimbo6977

In the past I've lived in houses backing onto the South Wales main line and the Manchester Airport line and I wasn't bothered by either, (had double glazing, a certain amount of lineside vegetation, and both tracks were elevated compared to the properties' uppermost windows)


EDIT: The bigger problem with a station is the announcements and the noise of people (read: "drunken idiots"). 

tooldle

My parents bought a bungalow one property away from the Portsmouth -Victoria line. After a couple of weeks we stopped noticing the trains. We were adjacent to a station and, found the stopping services more noticeable than those that didn’t stop. The slamming doors being the main indicator of a train arriving. With electric doors even this went away.

firsttimesellerldn

I live closer than that to a train line and generally don’t notice the noise. You really do just get used to it. The only exception is freight trains at night which I occasionally get woken by, although luckily I’m a heavy sleeper. My partner still notices them though, so it does depend if you’re generally sensitive to noise. If there are no freight trains at night I wouldn’t be too concerned myself. 

mooncake89

I currently live in a flat that's very close to train tracks (not the station, however). I'm quite a noise sensitive person and love my peace and quiet but the noise really doesn't bother me, or keep me awake. In fact, I'd even say it's quite a nice rhythmic 'hum'! Once every half a year or so we'll sometimes get woken up by noisy maintenance workers but that's not really an issue in the grand scheme of things.

 Sorry, as for your actual question about whether trees or shrubbery might make a difference... I'm not sure as we don't really have anything separating us from the tracks here. I think, if you can, all you can really do is take a long wander around the area so that you hear as many trains passing by as you can and imagine whether you think it will bother you. Obviously bear in mind that you're specifically focusing on it right now so it may well seem a lot worse than it would be once you've settled in and it just becomes a background noise.

zagubov

I live next to a church whose bells ring avery fifteen minutes. Also grew up facing a busy road connecting two cities with traffic running all night and day.

You stop noticing it.