Reading train depot noise order against GWR and Network Rail

Residents complain noise from Reading Train Care Depot has "blighted" their lives

Rail bosses have been issued with a noise abatement notice after claims people living near a train depot are enduring "sleepless nights".

Great Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail directors face prosecution if they fail to comply with Reading council's legal notice within six months.

"Prolonged negotiations" had not resolved the problem at the site near Cardiff Road, the council said.

GWR said new electric trains being introduced will reduce noise levels.

GWR said it was "disappointed" the notice had been served less than six weeks before quieter electric trains are set to be introduced

However, deputy council leader Tony Page said his authority was left with "little option but to proceed to serve the legal notices" after "years of inactivity" by rail operators.

He said acoustics and others experts had established there was "a statutory nuisance" which was "prejudicial to health".

"Residents in Cardiff Road continue to suffer from noise disturbance and sleepless nights as a result of the noisy diesel trains," he said.

"If electrification had been delivered on time, it would have meant by the end of 2017 far fewer diesel trains would have been serviced in Reading.

"The recent collapse of the electrification programme however, and the lack of any clarity of timescales, means there is no end in sight to the misery for local residents."

'Agreed limits'

Jonathan Dart, chairman of the Bell Tower Community Association, said the noise was at its worst in the early hours of the morning and late at night.

"They have to operate the depot in a way that doesn't blight the lives of the people living next to it," he said.

A GWR spokesman said the company was "disappointed" the notice had been served less than six weeks before quieter electric trains are set to be introduced.

"We expect this change will significantly alter the noise characteristics of the site," the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that four independent reports had shown the depot was operating "within safe and agreed limits".

Network Rail has not responded to an invitation to comment.