Round the clock noise from passing coal trains is ruining the lives of residents in Glenridding – a suburb just a rail track away from Singleton’s town centre.

But for those living in this suburb they claim all their pleas for something to be done to lessen the impact from noise and dust produced by coal trains has been totally ignored by local and state governments, Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) and mine companies.

For longterm residents John and Louise Crisp who describe their family home, that they bought in 1990, as paradise destroyed.

“When we bought our home we thought it was wonderful and the ideal place to raise our family – its on one and half acres and it used to be lovely living here,” said Mrs Crisp.

“Today its simply horrible due to the incessant noise from the trains. Visitors who stay overnight ask how we can possibly remain here and they can’t wait to get away because of the noise and vibrations from the trains.”

Despite this living hell the Crisps have only made one formal complaint to ARTC the operators of the rail line and that was back in 2014.

“As the coal industry grew so did the number of trains day and night even on Christmas Day and the empty carriages are the worst of all rattling past,” she said.

Nearby former Bulga resident Jurgen Seiffhart and his wife who bought their home in 2009 say the trains are travelling way too fast and every night they are woken by the noise.

Mr Jurgen was so frustrated by a lack of concern from Singleton Council and ARTC that he walked the streets of Glenridding gathering signatures for a petition calling for a noise wall to be built along the full length of Victoria Street.

“What upsets me the most is the fact ARTC acknowledges there is a noise problem for residents due to the coal trains but they won’t do anything to lessen that impact,” he said.

Both families said the ‘trial’ wall built in Victoria Street in 2014/15 should be continued from the railway bridge right through Glenridding.

“But it needs to be higher, similar to the one near the Albion Hotel, as the wall they built is too short, its lower than the trains and does not stop the noise at all,” said Mr Crisp.

“Given its height its a waste of money. ARTC should, with assistance from the mining companies, build a proper noise wall so we don’t have to suffer so they can make money. Our lives are ruined and they don’t care.”

Mr Crisp said the vibrations from the train turned their dog’s water bowl into a wave machine and he hates to think the damage those vibrations are doing to his home.

People may say sell up and move somewhere else but that’s not easy and why should we have to move because coal is more important than our health, he said.

“Those making money from these coal trains should have to pay for the wall and governments should make sure this happens not pass the buck and forget about Glenridding,” he said.

ARTC spokesman said We certainly appreciate the concerns of the community in Glenridding and acknowledge that it can be noisy living directly adjacent to a busy rail corridor like that of the Hunter Valley rail network and we don’t dismiss those concerns.

We constructed the noise wall as part of a trial noise abatement program we voluntarily delivered back in 2014-15, they said.

Typically, noise walls or noise abatement is only required to be delivered when new rail lines or roads are constructed, or significant upgrades occur.

The trial abatement program was delivered to test a process that might fairly and sustainably consider different community noise concerns over and above ARTC’s legislative requirements.

The continuation of the trial was subject to further funding and as the trial indicated that physical noise abatement was not a viable long-term solution to community noise concerns, the program was not extended. Noise walls also represent one form of noise control (mitigation) and our focus is now on exploring ways to reduce noise at the source (i.e. train and track), which would benefit all  of our neighbours.

It also relevant to note that the selection of the eastern end of Victoria Street was prioritised after an extensive process considering locations right across the Hunter Valley.

This process included noise modelling and noise monitoring among other factors, and the location at Glenridding was selected from 29 possible sites. There is a difference between the eastern and western sections of Victoria Street in terms of their proximity to the rail track and comparative noise exposure – hence the eastern section being selected.

At the time we did acknowledge there would be concerns with constructing the wall and the potential for wider community requests for further noise abatement as a consequence. However, we felt with the available budget and intent to trial an abatement program, it was far better to deliver some abatement rather than none at all and a number of residences have benefited as a consequence. 

In terms of train speeds: As we have progressively invested into the rail network over the last five to ten years we have been able to remove or reduce many previous temporary speed restrictions from sections of the track that were in place as a consequence of the pre-existing track condition. As these temporary speed restrictions have been removed it has had the effect of allowing trains to run more evenly at their allowable speeds – and this includes through locations such as Singleton. The substantive maximum speeds that trains are able to go through Singleton have not increased and are not planned to.

Empty coal trains are able to run at up to 100km/hr and loaded coal trains are able to run at 80km/hr so there is a difference in speeds between the train types.

Speed reductions would have significant flow on effects, creating congestion and delays across the rail network – this would essentially magnify the noise associated with, and impact of, trains braking and speeding up across a much wider geographic section of the rail network and potentially increase noise impacts of trains not only in Singleton but in other parts of the rail network.