Train Horns causing disturbance

[whole diary]

[Reading General]

There is an ongoing issue I believe with the residents of Cardiff Road next to Reading TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot) where the Victorian terrace houses are right up against the rail line and the depot. Network rail have installed high soundproofing fences and pointed out that there will be less noise when most trains will be swapped for electric but I think it's still a problem. You can probably guarantee that some of those complaining use the railway each day to travel somewhere for work. Personally, when I lived up against West station a couple of years back, the sound of trains was largely unnoticeable, it was the prostitution, drug dealers, addicts and associated rows and violence that kept me up! I would have loved to have swapped for a place in Cardiff Road, and you could have taken down the fence. Quite simply if you live near a railway or in the middle of a large, busy town, expect some noise.

[Noggin]

There is an ongoing issue I believe with the residents of Cardiff Road next to Reading TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot) where the Victorian terrace houses are right up against the rail line and the depot. Network rail have installed high soundproofing fences and pointed out that there will be less noise when most trains will be swapped for electric but I think it's still a problem. You can probably guarantee that some of those complaining use the railway each day to travel somewhere for work. Personally, when I lived up against West station a couple of years back, the sound of trains was largely unnoticeable, it was the prostitution, drug dealers, addicts and associated rows and violence that kept me up! I would have loved to have swapped for a place in Cardiff Road, and you could have taken down the fence. Quite simply if you live near a railway or in the middle of a large, busy town, expect some noise.

I used to live round the corner on Swansea Road and to be honest, planes and road traffic were far more noticeable, with the station announcer being quite clear if the wind was blowing from that direction. The 125's Valenta's were quite loud pulling out of Reading, but to be honest they weren't that noticeable.

[eightf48544]

Isn't there a famous Denning ruling that went something like? If you moved somewhere there was nuisance hard luck, if a nuisance moved into the area you had a case. So as most rail lines have been  round for 100 plus years hard luck.

Whereas the new Reading Depot might give Cardiff Rd residents a case.

[broadgage]

Isn't there a famous Denning ruling that went something like? If you moved somewhere there was nuisance hard luck, if a nuisance moved into the area you had a case. So as most rail lines have been  round for 100 plus years hard luck.

Whereas the new Reading Depot might give Cardiff Rd residents a case.

A good lawyer might of course argue than an EXTRA train on an existing railway was "a new nuisance"

[welshman]

Unfortunately, it is not an automatic defence to a claim in nuisance to show that the claimant acquired or moved into his/her property after the nuisance had started. However it may be a defence, at least in some circumstances, that it is only because the claimant has changed the use of his/her land that the defendant’s pre-existing activity is claimed to have become a nuisance. 

See the Supreme Court decision in Coventry v Lawrence in 2012 - para 47 and onwards if you're keen.  The section is headed "Coming to the nuisance".

The Denning reference is a reference to his "coming to the nuisance" judgement in Miller v Jackson - a cricket ground case.  He was in the minority on that one - his two fellow Court of Appeal judges came to the opposite view.

[Reading General]

I used to live round the corner on Swansea Road and to be honest, planes and road traffic were far more noticeable, with the station announcer being quite clear if the wind was blowing from that direction. The 125's Valenta's were quite loud pulling out of Reading, but to be honest they weren't that noticeable.

The station announcements were also clearly heard up at Emmer Green too when I lived there, normally when waiting for the 5.30 bus to town in the morning.

[Bmblbzzz]

"Agent of change" it's known as but I'm not sure it applies to nuisance claims, only to planning permissions.

[Incider]

Most of the trains using the Melksham branch won’t have high/low loud and high/low soft horns, just two tones of one volume.  It’s not until you get above 105mph you need the higher decibels, hence the four position horn lever on a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and the automatic loud/soft on IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.).  The 150’s, 153’s, 158’s etc will only have the one level.

[grahame]

Most of the trains using the Melksham branch won’t have high/low loud and high/low soft horns, just two tones of one volume.  It’s not until you get above 105mph you need the higher decibels, hence the four position horn lever on a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and the automatic loud/soft on IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.).  The 150’s, 153’s, 158’s etc will only have the one level.

That's interesting - and explains why I haven't been able to actually hear any difference between loud and soft - because there is none.   Mind, I have never stood and listened to horns nd questioned them before.

Guess that 165,166 are also just the one level with a top speed of 90 m.p.h.?

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm a couple of hundred metres from the Severn Beach line and sometimes, but only on certain days, I hear trains hooting. They seem to be hooting somewhere near the Arches (where the line crosses the A38 between Redland and Montpellier). I guess the variability from day to day is down to wind direction (the predominant wind would carry sound away from us) but why are they hooting at all?There is a signal there but that doesn't seem like a reason. (I'd just like to add it's not a disturbance at all and I've never heard anyone nearby mention it – it's nowhere near as loud as the sirens and as for the police helicopter which comes over from time to time... )

[Red Squirrel]

I'm a couple of hundred metres from the Severn Beach line and sometimes, but only on certain days, I hear trains hooting. They seem to be hooting somewhere near the Arches (where the line crosses the A38 between Redland and Montpellier). I guess the variability from day to day is down to wind direction (the predominant wind would carry sound away from us) but why are they hooting at all?There is a signal there but that doesn't seem like a reason. (I'd just like to add it's not a disturbance at all and I've never heard anyone nearby mention it – it's nowhere near as loud as the sirens and as for the police helicopter which comes over from time to time... )

I've heard that too... I imagined it was train drivers giving a cheery hoot to the various eco-minded folk who use operational railway land between Redland and Clifton Down as allotments...

[Bmblbzzz]

It always sounds to me like it's between Redland and Montpellier, but you might be right. "Toot," you're making good progress with the weeding. "Toot toot," I'll be round for my asparagus later. etc.

Coincidentally, I did hear a train hoot about five minutes after my post this morning.

[Incider]

Most of the trains using the Melksham branch won’t have high/low loud and high/low soft horns, just two tones of one volume.  It’s not until you get above 105mph you need the higher decibels, hence the four position horn lever on a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and the automatic loud/soft on IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.).  The 150’s, 153’s, 158’s etc will only have the one level.

That's interesting - and explains why I haven't been able to actually hear any difference between loud and soft - because there is none.   Mind, I have never stood and listened to horns nd questioned them before.

Guess that 165,166 are also just the one level with a top speed of 90 m.p.h.?

Yes.

[Lee]

I wonder how long before we have a grieving family complaining that if a horn had been sounded then their loved one would still be with them.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/14/silent-night-trains-killed-daughter-mother-claims-sues-network/

A mother is claiming that "silent" night trains killed her daughter and is suing Network Rail over her child's tragic death.

Straight-A student Milena Gagic, 16, died instantly when she was hit by the night train at the level crossing in Hipperholme, Halifax, in December 2014.

She and her best friend, Amelia Hustwick, had gone to the crossing late at night to chat because it was “a nice place to hang out”, Central London County Court heard.

The pair were sitting between the actual train tracks, “laughing and giggling” because they were convinced trains did not run at night.

Both girls had also grown up in the local area and believed that, if any train did in fact approach, it would sound its horn.

But since 2007, a “night time quiet period” had been ushered in, barring horns between 11pm and 7am, said barrister Stephen Glyn.

Her mum, Leanne Gagic, is now suing Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd for £22,124 in damages, although her barrister explained that her case is “not about money”.

She says Network Rail breached its duty of care in failing to properly warn people that night trains no longer sounded their horns at Hipperholme, where villagers hear the sounds of train whistles over 100 times a day.

[Celestial]

Oh goodness me! That was rather sooner than I had anticipated.

If ever there was an example of why everyone should treat railway tracks with the utmost respect then this is it. I'll leave my comments there rather than open up a discussion as to the circumstances of the fatality.