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HS2 viaduct - will we hear it?

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Lloyds siding

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I used to work assessing noise from roads, and more rarely, railways.
A very simple 'rule' is that, if you can see the railway (line of sight) then you will be able to hear it (I know it's not built yet, but you should be able to work out where it will be sited). However, if it's a kilometre away it's not likely to be very intrusive. All new roads and railways now have to assess the noise impact from their operation and mitigate it if necessary. The usual way as people have said is by noise barriers, if that is not enough, or can't be used, then the affected houses will have sound insulation fitted (double or triple glazing, etc.), but that's not likely to apply at your distance from the railway.
I've stayed in a modern block of flats immediately next to the West Coast Main Line, admittedly on a bend so the trains were not at full speed. I was on the side away from the railway, and inside the building I was not aware there was a railway nearby, though it was certainly audible outside.
 
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unlevel42

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If you don't like a sound or vibration and it irritates you, you may never get used to it.

Relatives never slept well at our house because of the river -a babbling brook with tweeting birds- at any state of flow.
When we went to Blackpool I happily went to sleep to the clank of the trams but woke up as soon as the electric milk floats started screaming.
I lived on a main road in a city for a while and found that continuous traffic noise even at night, disappeared into the background whereas traffic jams were too quiet and irritating.
 

MML-Ben

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Hi, I have just joined this forum as I thought you may be able to help me as experts. I hope thats okay. We are planning on buying a house around 700 metres away from the HS2. I know if the track is in a tunnel, cuttings or a viaduct etc it can affect the noise. Do you think we will hear it from that distance please? I'm nervous to buy the house if it's going to cause a lot of disruption and noise. Am I worrying too much about it? Many thanks for your help

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but I'm in the process of buying a house which is just over 3km from where HS2 is planned to go (M1/M18 area, not too far away from you really) and the solicitors offered me the option to buy a "HS2 Check". What this actually included I don't know as I didn't want or care for the check to be conducted. I assume it would be noise as well as any potential disruption if you lived much closer.
 

davews

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Bracknell
I live 200m from the Waterloo to Reading line. I notice the trains by an open window or if I am in the garden but never indoors with double glazing. When the wind is in the right direction they are more noticeable but hardly annoying. Slightly more noticeable are the planes heading for Heathrow at around 1000ft, you learn to ignore those as well. You should have no problems - and by the time HS2 actually appears you will probably have moved again....
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Mold, Clwyd
I lived in Reading for a spell, about half a mile north of the GW main line, admittedly not very high speed at that location - 75mph max.
The worst you heard from the railway was the occasional and familiar toot of HST horns.
There were two big beefs locally.
One was the noise from the annual music festival (some people moved out for the weekend deliberately to avoid it).
The other was the 2-3 times daily roar of Concordes on their way out of Heathrow - Reading was directly under the fly-path on most days.
This latter was by far the most disruptive, inside and out - no point in trying to hold a conversation for the 1-2 minutes it took for them to pass over.
 

notverydeep

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At 1 km or 3 km distant from a proposed railway, by far the most likely inconvenience or disturbance would be the construction and this is what the OP or any other purchaser should check as thoroughly as they can. Try to get as much detail of the construction phase as you can. Will your proposed house be close to a construction base (very noisy and disruptive) and / or the key road access to it? In this case you can expect many lorry movements, potentially including at unsociable hours. If a viaduct is to be built close by, it will almost certainly have its own construction base and though temporary, these can be quite large and long lasting. If you drive past any 'smart motorway' project, you will see that a huge camp and yards will have been built, with their own temporary access roads and they can extend over several fields. The bases can be worse than the construction on the alignment itself and it is this disruption that will most impact your life plus the value of and saleability of property near by. On the other hand, if you are happy to take on this possibility at the right price, it may give you some leaverage on the purchase price. Once this is all over, the actual line will probably be audible as others have said, but will not cause much disturbance at that distance. I once viewed a flat overlooking Bounds Green (then GNER / Charter stock, now LNER) depot. It would have been interesting and the vendor said, "its not too bad". But I thought, "rail screech all night on sharp radius points in the yard". And went elsewhere...

I live almost exactly 1 km east of the A1(M). In the garden or with the windows open it is just about possible to hear the traffic if there is a westerly wind, especially motorcyles accelerating hard, but the volume is nowhere near problematic levels. The East Coast Mainline is about 500 metres further east of my house and I can certainly hear the fast trains with an easterly wind. They too are fine and prompt an almost wistful thought that I wish I lived close enough to see them! Again though, in a way the slight exception for me is construction. Welwyn Garden City has a set of sidings, usually used to reverse freight trains to the aggregate terminal at Stevenage (normally in daylight), but more commonly as the base of tampers and other self propelled track plant. These clearly perform some checks before setting out to their worksite each night (between 2330 and 0100), including horn tests and then one or more reversals to get out onto the mainline - more horn sounding. This isn't a huge problem for me or my family, but more noticeable than the normal passing of trains!
 
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DJames

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Tipton
The surrounding area will affect it, but you shouldn't have too much of an issue. I live less than 500m away from the WCML Stour Valley line, and I can barely hear it from here, even with my windows open or standing outside. It's only on the odd day when it's quiet on my estate, or if the wind's blowing the right way. Granted, the speeds aren't anywhere near that of HS2, but I'd imagine being further away would negate that.
 

Bletchleyite

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And much as it'll knacker the view, it'll most likely have the kind of noise reduction fences motorways tend to (most of the European high speed lines do when anywhere near anything) so this will cause further reduction.
 

The Ham

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Locally there's a walk which passes a railway line and a motorway, when a diesel train goes by you may have to pause your conversation for up to 30 seconds, near the motorway you just don't talk for ages (and from further away, for the railway is almost only right next to the line).

Locals who live backing onto the line only complain if there's track maintenance, whilst those who live fairly close to the station comment on the hustle beeps, but mostly only when you are outside.

We live further from the motorway (about 1km) than the railway (on an embankment and about 500m from us), almost never hear the railway but can sometimes hear motorway noise (even though it's the wrong side of the railway embankment).

Even if the trains are loud for 30 seconds each and there's 12 trains an hour in each direction, that's only noise for 12 minutes in every 60 (other than between about 1 and 3 in the morning, when they be no trains).
 

urbophile

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A friend of mine used to live right next to the LU District Line (which at that point was on an embankment). When he first bought the house he was aware of the trains, but got used to them so that when there was a prolonged strike with no trains at all it took him a couple of days to realise that they weren't running.
 
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