Vent! Pollution from electrified railway line.

knightstyle

We recently moved and there is a railway line at the bottom of the garden, we realised there would be noise but as the line is electric thought we would not get the sort of pollution we could get from a main road.
However the large goods trains use old smokey diesels and the smell when they pass is awful.
Do these engines have to pass pollution tests like cars I wonder?

mobileron

I lived for 20 years with steam trains at the end of the garden main London to leeds line,also good trains shunting all day.
Still alive at 75.

bris

You were pretty naïve to think living in a place with a train line at the bottom of the garden wasn't going to be noisy and smoke free.

The goods trains don't have separate lines, they all use the same ones

FindMyWayBack

Was this in your survey? what did that say?

tacpot12

There probably are some regulations that the engines have to pass, but they might only have to pass them when they are new. I'm not aware of any sort of regular check by a third-party that the engines comply with the current emmission standards, like road vehicles need to pass. Perhaps there should be such a check. An email to your MP might get you some assistance with this. 

mattyprice4004

Like cars, emissions regulations are not retrospective - so I expect if they’re still to the standard they were when new then it’s fine. 

You were more than a little naive it seems - spend more than half an hour near a railway line and you’ll likely see all kinds on the tracks, not just electric trains. 

Sorry, but you should have done your homework…. 

YBR

It depends on which railway line. 
Many 3rd rail electrified lines in the south east see no regular freight trains. Some railway lines are for freight only, or (for example near Felixtowe) have more freight than passenger in the timetable.
Locomotives have longer lives than cars, so they're unlikely to designed to anything like current standards, and there's a limit to what can be done retrospectively.

knightstyle

We are at Grantham and it is the main east coast line from London to Leeds and Edinburgh.
The worst offenders are the line maintenance trains, one a few days ago was belching black smoke from its exhaust as it went past, not very pleasant when we were in the garden.

bargainbetty

knightstyle said:

We are at Grantham and it is the main east coast line from London to Leeds and Edinburgh.

It's a major national route and all kinds of trains will be using it. Unfortunately, you will be on a hiding to nothing complaining to an MP, as there must be a reasonable expectation of high usage when you are that close to a major line.

If it was a smaller branch line or just a commuter line there would be some risk, but this is the M1 on rail so it is very much like a main road, unfortunately. 

Perhaps develop higher hedges or plants that might help act as a wind-break to stop the fumes blowing over somewhat? I am at a loss to suggest anything else practical, but living near a bus garage I do share some of your pain. 

jimbo6977

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/16/pollution-on-some-new-uk-trains-13-times-one-of-londons-busiest-roads

coffeehound

^ although it's not immediately clear from the usual grauniad standards of journalism, that's talking about pollution to passengers inside the trains