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

[Deleted User]

My mum lives beside a train station in Glasgow, I've just spent the day there. She's on the 1st floor and despite my low tolerance for noise, I barely notice the train station at all. There is a vibration sometimes, but it's only slight. The only notable thing is when there are youths at the station acting out or shouting, which is quite disturbing but it's always heartening to know it won't be for long. I think the noise levels you'll experience depend on so many factors that it's difficult to say whether you'd be bothered by it, but having lived close to busy roads in the past, the noise in my mum's house with the trains running frequently is relatively minimal. 

GaleSF63

The position of the bedroom can make a difference as well. I live very near a (quiet, as in not many trains) line, but the bedrooms are on the side away from the line and it's not easy to hear even the noisiest trains from the bedrooms.

Many thousands of people live next to or near railway lines and probably the vast majority get so used to them they don't notice them, but for some it always matters. You have to decide which category you fall into, if you can, without living there. 

I lived next to the same line before I moved here; in the other place the line was a bit above the level of the garden and here it is below. I don't think I've noticed a significant difference in noise levels. 

Scotbot

edgex said:

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.

Not sure how you know where it is  but the Lichfield end of the cross city line usually has trains every 15 mins. The trains are reasonably quiet but foliage won't make any difference.  What will make a difference is decent glazing. I would expect a new build to be quiet inside, 

Nikkilou86

The houses opposite us have the railway line running across the bottom of their gardens albeit at a slightly lower level so only tops of trains are visible between the houses.

The only times we notice the trains now is if we’ve been away or there’s been a long period of engineering works and they restart up again. Within a couple of days were oblivious to them again.

This is a mainline into London with trains starting at 4am and running through to 1am and between 6 and 8 trains and hour in each direction at peak times. 

Ally_E.

I used to live in a flat that was right outside a rail station, trees really helped. However, one day we woke up and Network Rail have cut down all the mature birch trees that were blocking the view and noise from the train-track without any explanation. It became very different scenario with trains whizzing by, more noise and pollution.

I'm a very light sleeper, but train noise is the type of noise that one does get used to and it doesn't wake one up.

brianposter

Height probably makes things worse until you reach the fifth or sixth floor. Far worse than passing trains are trains stopped with bleepers going - you need to make sure there are no signals where this can happen.

Weathergirl_76

My cousin had a property very near a station, it wasn’t too bad at all. Trees and hedges do provide some buffer to reduce the noise, but obviously there is no guarantee they will be there indefinitely. 

Can you go and view it when a train is due past? To be honest, most people viewing the flat will have a question about the noise.  Check the windows too. I think they are more noisy when they don’t stop at stations. Remember in summer you’ll want the windows open on a hot day. Ask to view the flat around the time a train is due past. You could also possibly ask at the station if they have freight trains using that line and how often. 

gab3x

What I would say is think of resale value as well as ease of sale. Others will have same doubts as you do and will try and knock down the price hard if they do offer. It might take longer to sell.

Another issue is air pollution but this may not be as big deal if the line is electric.

For me personally - enjoying your home means having a healthy, peaceful and quiet home so I'd pass something like this.

Soot2006

As above, some people stop noticing it completely. I don't notice church bells, cockerels/hens, dogs barking ... but when I lived 1 mile away from a train station the distant rumble of the 01.30am to London woke me up every single night for months after I moved i, and then for the next ten years I "registered" it, sometimes woke up, sometimes featured in my dreams! I l've never lived near a busy road or anything like that, so the different type of noise didn't work for me. I think if you're generally used to being nearer to traffic sounds it's probably no problem at all! (and then the cockerels at 4am might be more annoying for you lol).

lookstraightahead

Everyone's tolerance for noise and type of noise is different. I lived obv a main road and it made me ill, yet I lived by a tube line and I loved it.

i now live half a mile from a trainline and it's so therapeutic for me! If you like the type of noise you get used to it, if you hate it it can be hell.

i think someone else has said - also think of the vibration. Vibration of main roads is my experience - lorries making the house shake.

you will hear it, it's just how you tolerate it.

PS im now in the country and being woken by birds at 4.30 am lol