Man who moved near train tracks complains to train companies about train noises
Liam Coleman for Metro.co.uk
A man has slammed two train companies for driving him to ‘madness’ after noises from the tracks have kept him awake at night.
Barry Carroll, a 72-year-old antiques silver dealer, moved to Amersham from London last year in his quest for ‘peace and quiet’.
His apartment in King George V Road, is just a few metres away from the railway tracks, which serve both Chiltern Railways and the underground Metropolitan Line.
Barry said: ‘I knew there was a railway line, but I thought that would close at 11.30pm.
‘My bedroom is very close to the tracks, but that’s not the main issue.
‘There’s a side track behind us, where Chiltern Railways park their trains that are not going anywhere.
‘That’s okay, but the trouble is, they keep the engines running.’
Barry claims the trains can stand there for more than 15 minutes with engines running, which happens especially on the weekend mornings and late evenings.
He said: ‘From 8am in the morning, you’re there trying to have a lie in, and you hear the trains chugging away.’
A spokesperson for Chiltern Railways apologised that Barry had been disturbed by the trains ‘in the sidings near Amersham Station’.
They said: ‘During periods of industrial action, some of our services start and terminate at Amersham, meaning that trains need to be shunted between sidings and platforms to continue service.
‘This is a short-term operational necessity and does not routinely happen outside of days affected by industrial action.’
On November 21, between 1am and 3am, Barry claims to have been kept up by the ‘worst noise he has ever heard’.
He said: ‘Men were banging with metal rods, doing something to the track.
‘And then there was little train, tiny little metal thing that went up and down the tracks with a shrieking noise, and that didn’t finish until 3am or so.
‘Of course, you’re lying in bed, mad with rage and there’s nothing you can do, and you can’t go back to sleep because you’re so angry.’
Barry gets up at 5am to get to the London Silver Vaults where he works.
After a day spent in a ‘fog’ due to lack of sleep, Barry was hoping for a better night’s sleep. However, the works returned the following night again from 1am until 3am.
In a message to Barry, Transport for London told him the night-time works had to be carried out without any advance warning for ‘safety critical reasons’ to replace some of the Metropolitan line sleepers and install new cabling for the signals, which can only be done when the trains are not running.
A customer advisor wrote: ‘When night-time works are planned well in advance, a letter is usually sent to local residents informing them of the potential for a small amount of disturbance.
‘Regretfully, some work has to take place at very short notice for safety-critical reasons. In such instances, it’s not always possible to issue prior notification in time.’
Now the antiques dealer fears future works will be just as bad, and he is ’desperate to leave.’
Chiltern Railways added that the company’s drivers are ‘instructed to turn off engines unless it is an operational necessity to keep them on’, and staff have been briefed to ensure to be mindful of noise coming from the sites.
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