Noisy rail bells making heads ring

Dave Harrop says crossing bells 100m from his home could drive him and wife Di from their bedroom, or force him to install double glazing. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Dave and Di Harrop live 100m from Auckland's western railway line, yet new pedestrian-crossing warning bells are waking them at night and driving them to distraction by day.

The recently-retired couple are considering moving bedrooms or double-glazing their windows to regain some peace in their home of the past 14 years, at the end of Akiraho St in Eden Terrace.

Mr Harrop yesterday accepted that safety measures were needed at level-crossings, but said there was no way pedestrians needed to be warned about trains from so far away.

"Some people might say we live by a railway line, so we've got to put up with it, but it's too long and too loud and it shouldn't go through the night," he said.

He said his sympathies went especially to residents of a block of 48 apartments, the closest of which is only 16m from the bells at a pedestrian crossing at the western end of Mt Eden Station.

At the apartments, one man said the trains sometimes woke him, even though his bedroom faced away from the railway line.

His comments through an intercom were drowned out when the bells started ringing and a train lumbered by about 40 seconds later.

A worker at a fashion clothing factory 25m from the bells said they rang in her head for much of the day and owner Laurie Bell said they were extremely annoying.

"It drives you nuts especially if we have customers here and are showing them products," she said.

The owner of a glass factory next door, Philip Charlton, said the bells were "a real pain", and he had thought "seriously" about cutting the wires.

A KiwiRail spokeswoman said most bells were set at about 90 decibels, similar to the noise from a motor mower.

But the organisation could lower the noise to "an absolute minimum" of 75 decibels if neighbours considered it a nuisance.

She was unaware of any other noise complaints about the Mt Eden Station crossing, but said "quiet" bells had been installed on request at most Auckland locations where new electronic warning systems had been installed.

Before bells were installed in late November, the Mt Eden crossing had only warning signs and was considered dangerous, even though there had been no accidents in the past 10 years, she said.

Bells used to be turned off between 10pm and 6am at other crossings, but after a pedestrian was hit by a train in West Auckland in 2002 it became apparent this did not comply with international safety standards.