TAUNTON, MASS. (WHDH) - People living in a Taunton neighborhood are frustrated by a new railroad project in their community. Many have said the trains make a lot of noise at night, rattling their homes.
The Elsingers feel like they’re living in a rail yard.
“It’s a lot of clanging, and banging, and squealing, hissing, crashing sounds going on,” said Jennifer Elsinger. “It’s wicked frustrating at night and wakes up my kids.”
Day and night, trains move through the Elsingers’ backyard.
“I took a decimal reading on the app on my phone and I got a reading of 103 and that’s right behind peoples’ backyards,” Jennifer Elsinger said.
When the family bought the home, they knew about the train line, running behind their house with the occasional freight cars passing by. What they didn’t sign up for, however, was a second train line that’s been having freight cars park on it and move at all hours of the night.
“I would hope they stop parking in residential neighborhoods,” Jennifer Elsinger said.
People who live along Fremont Street said they were never told that the state was going to rebuild that second abandoned track. The project did not require a notice to the public, as it was considered “maintenance” work.
“This was not here when we moved in,” Jennifer Elsinger said.
CSX, the company that operates the trains, told 7 Investigates that the track was needed to park and shuttle freight cars.
“Why here? Is there not a place along these tracks where there are no residents, where there’s just fields and forest, where they could stand more safely? It’s not just this family. It involves the residents all along this way,” said Massachusetts state Rep. Carol Doherty.
CSX said they “strive to be a good neighbor in the communities where we operate, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused by our operations.”
But with no apparent end in sight, the Elsingers’ patience has gone off the rails.
“I just want a peaceful, safe place to live,” said Jeremiah Elsinger.
“To be honest, if I came up here on an open house when I was gonna buy this house and I saw those rail cars parked behind the swing set like I do now, I would be walking away,” Jennifer Elsinger said.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)