Great Western Coffee Shop

H/L; Loud; General warning to individuals on or about railway tracks.
H; Loud; Emergency warning to individuals who are on the track or workers who fail to acknowledge a train's presence (Sounded Repeatedly.).
L; Loud; Used at Whistle boards (Between 0700 and 2300).
L; Soft; Warning signal when operating in depots or on sidings.
H; Loud; Used for special/local signal.
H; Loud; Wrong-direction movements, against normal railway traffic flow (Sounded at frequent intervals.).

I would like to take these people out onto the track and let the trains come without any form of warning.  Trains these days are very quiet and you don't hear them coming.

Anyway, I thought research showed that if the human brain is subjected to repeated sounds that it starts to filter them out and not let you hear the sound anymore.

Without any barriers to lock, how would a crossing time limit be enforceable?

Without any barriers to lock, how would a crossing time limit be enforceable?

There is an ongoing issue I believe with the residents of Cardiff Road next to Reading TMD 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.

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.

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.

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 and the automatic loud/soft on IEP.  The 150’s, 153’s, 158’s etc will only have the one level.

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... )

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.?

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.

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.

A sobering reminder that even when passenger trains have stopped running you should never assume a train isn't going to come, no matter where you are.  And sitting down on the tracks is, as Broadgage said, worse than unwise.

Just as I thought this thread had run its course ... I spotted a post somewhere completely different but in the UK and on a main line ... where the crossing is fitted with horns and as the train passes over a track circuit on the approach, that horn sounds.   The article was not dated 1st April either!

It struck me that an audible warning at the crossing could be much tighter in where it's heard than one on a train 800m (or so) away - the noise does not need to carry ...

Anyone else heard of this?   How feasible is it for more general application?

Improving Safety with Network Rail

The tragic accidents and casualties related to pedestrians and vehicles ignoring train level crossing warnings have been well documented in the UK press. Responding to this Network Rail identified that a significant percentage of all safety incidents at level crossings occur when a second train is approaching. In the past, there was no particular method to advise or alert anyone nearby that another train was coming and why the barriers were not opening immediately after the first train had passed.

E2S Warning Signals, working with engineers at Network Rail, designed and developed a solution using an alarm horn sounder from the Appello range for use on automatic level crossing sites.

Customised Voice Recording Technology from E2S

E2S were pioneers in the use of digitally stored voice recording technology. The Appello range offers unparalleled reproduction clarity and output, combining user recordable content with a choice of alarm tones and automatic synchronisation on multiple unit installations. 
Existing level crossing audible signalling devices only provided an alarm tone warning as the first train approached the crossing.  The system provided by E2S added a voice message to the alarm tone to alert anyone present at the crossing of the imminent arrival of a train.

    Alarm tone followed by “Warning, more than one train may be approaching. Warning, more than one train may be approaching”

    Listen to the warning here.


Crucially, the multi stage capability of the Appello unit allowed a second voice message and alarm tone to be activated should it be necessary to wait for a second train to pass through before it becomes safe for members of the public to use the crossing.

    Alarm tone followed by “Warning, another train is approaching. Warning, another train is approaching.”

    Listen to the warning here.

Different alarm tones and message content was trialled before arriving at the most concise and effective wording. E2S were also happy to create the voice recordings for Network Rail.

A challenging aspect of the project related to the potential impact the new audible warnings would have on residents of property near to level crossings. The distance at which the Appello unit could be heard increased dramatically at night so custom electronics were designed by E2S to enable the Appello unit to have a remotely selectable day and night time function that reduced the sound level output automatically. During installation the Network Rail engineers are able to set the day and night time volume levels that are appropriate for that site.

To provide the control interface, E2S also designed and manufacture custom voltage regulator modules that are mounted in the track side cabinet.

Network Rail believes that the notification of additional trains approaching the crossing will significantly improve overall crossing safety.

The Network Rail acceptance certificate number is PA05/04380.