Train siren goes off ‘every 15 minutes 16 hours a day’ and keeps people awake
Residents say a new siren that warns pedestrian of oncoming trains is making their lives a misery.
One person said the alert goes off every 15 minutes from 5am until 9pm.
Others say the ‘intrusive’ alarm has forced them to shut their windows during the sweltering heat and has kept them awake at night.
It was installed at Tonford Lane foot crossing in Thanington, near Canterbury in Kent a little over a week ago.
Kate Scott, 52, whose garden faces the crossing, says the siren and a new traffic light system have been ‘horrendous; since they were installed just over a week ago’.
She said: ‘I had to shut the windows on Wednesday as a train came through at 12.50am, and the following morning one woke me up at 5.20am.
‘It goes into a quieter setting at about 8pm in the evening, which is bearable, but in the morning it is back at full volume.’
Ms Scott says multiple trains go through every hour – with the noise going off every time – causing ‘severe interruption’ to her sleep.
‘It is like a car alarm going off outside your home,’ she added.
She said that despite closing all her doors and windows last week the siren still managed to drown out her TV.
The new warning light is also bothering her.
‘The light shines straight into our houses,’ she said. ‘It is very luminous and it lights up the back of our houses.
‘I appreciate there needs to be one there, but it should be angled down so a pedestrian can see it.’
Another resident, Chris Sparks, says they weren’t told the alarm was going to be installed.
‘It is really disturbing the peace and quiet,’ the 67-year-old added. ‘I understand there might be partially sighted people who need to cross, but it is in a semi-rural position and it seems over the top.
‘It is waking up a lot of working men and women who don’t need to be hearing it at those times of the day.’
Mr Sparks says his home, which overlooks the Great Stour and Hambrook Marshes, was ‘really peaceful and quiet’ before.
‘I don’t know what problem it is the solution to,’ the former police officer said.
‘A mile away at Whitehall Road there is another level crossing which has smaller lights and no claxon, so I don’t know what’s different here.’
Two people have been killed at the crossing over the past nine years.
A 21-year-old man was hit by a train and died in 2017, while a 36-year-old man was also struck and killed there in 2014.
Sue Flay, 64, says she’s had to stay inside during the recent hot days with windows and doors shut.
‘I react to high-pitched noises, which is why me and my granddaughter are inside at the moment. I get very annoyed…it’s intrusive.’
‘It’s every 15 minutes, but sometimes it’s more – I understand the traffic light system, but not the noise.’
A Network Rail spokesperson said: ‘We have recently installed a miniature stop light system at Tonford Lane level crossing in Thanington to make it safer for users of this level crossing.
‘Previously, train drivers would blow their whistle when passing whistle boards to notify level crossing users of an approaching train, however these have now been removed meaning that the trains no longer blow their horns in this area.
‘This new enhanced system is safer and gives users an audible and visual warning when it is safe to cross and is necessary due to the crossing having insufficient sighting of trains due to a curve in the track.’
They said the level crossing was used by a large number of vulnerable people, which meant a longer warning time was required.
‘We are sorry to hear the audible warning level is disturbing nearby residents and our teams will be visiting the level crossing next week to reduce the sound level,’ the spokesperson added.
Yesterday CCTV footage was shared of the heart-stopping moment a woman was almost hit by a train.
Two women were caught on camera climbing around a locked gate to cross a level crossing – but one of them was forced to jump back to avoid a passing train by mere inches.
The incident happened in April at Elsenham in Essex, at the same level crossing where two teenage girls were killed after being hit by a train in 2005.
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