Who would want to live next to a railway line, with the thundering of trains, the tooting of horns and people staring into your garden? When you’re on a train, it’s tempting to wonder why on earth people in the trackside houses bought them, as you peer through their patio doors and assess their taste in garden furniture — indeed, such voyeurism took a chilling turn in this summer’s bestselling novel The Girl on the Train. Yet with Crossrail, HS2, and a host of other developments around stations, more and more of us are destined to be living by the tracks.
In fact, despite tales of rattling windows, vibrating teacups and people woken in the dead of night by maintenance work, it seems many homeowners don’t have much of an issue with living by the railroad. Some even find the rumble of rolling stock comforting.
Track improvements and the use of quieter modern trains have toned down the clickety-clack for those living near the lines. Network Rail, which owns and manages Britain’s railway network, but not the trains, says a 2012 study showed that “track maintenance improvements had achieved a significant reduction in noise associated with the railway”.
About 40% of the UK’s lines are electrified, including most of those in the southeast, the main routes from London to Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the Merseyrail network. Projects under way include the electrification of the Great Western line, which covers the southwest and South Wales, the south coast route to Brighton, and the northwest (Liverpool, Manchester and Blackpool).
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The consensus among track dwellers is that rail noise is preferable to road noise, which is almost continual; trains are intermittent and pass within seconds. Jo Eccles, managing director of the search agency Sourcing Property, says that while sellers of homes near railway tracks should expect lower asking prices, buyers are becoming more tolerant.
“Train and Tube noise used to be quite a big negative, but we’ve seen attitudes change,” she explains. “We’ve had a number of buyers recently who would rather have train noise if it means they can get more internal space or be in a location close to transport. This highlights a shift in mindset, as buyers focus more on their own needs, rather than eventual resale.”
Richard and Sue Ling have lived with a railway line along one side of their garden for 32 years. They brought up their family in the five-bedroom detached house in the Oxfordshire village of South Stoke, which has the Great Western line running through it.
“We were a bit concerned about the track, but the house was in better condition than others we’d seen and gave us everything we needed,” recalls Richard, 70. “We were conscious of the trains at first, but then stopped noticing them. It takes five seconds for them to go past, and we have Canadian pines on that side of the garden, so you just get a glimpse through the trees. The only ones I notice are the occasional rattlers, the goods trains.”
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Richard and Sue, 65, both worked in admin at the University of Oxford, which is why they moved to the area, but now they’re retired, and are selling up to move to Suffolk so they can be near their grandchild. Their house is on the market at £600,000 through Jackson-Stops & Staff (01491 871111, jackson-stops. co.uk). “It would be priced at £650,000 if it wasn’t near the line,” says Tim Sherston, a director at the agency. “Houses close to the tracks don’t come onto the market often, which indicates that people live there quite happily, railway line or not.”
Agents put the discount for properties next to railway lines at about 10%, but some new-build developers in the capital haven’t needed to offer any such reduction. Flats at the Listello Buildings, London SW4, have almost sold out at the full asking price (from £774,995 for a two-bedroom duplex), despite being next to the tracks in Clapham. Triple glazing has been installed in the railway-facing units, reducing noise.
There are no rules about how close to a track developers can build, but restrictions will be imposed by the train operator when a planning application is submitted. There’s usually a three- or four-metre gap between the track and the fencing put in by the train company, then another five metres between the fence and anyone’s back garden. In London, this can be three metres in some places. Which is quite close, unless you are a keen trainspotter.
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One acoustic peculiarity worth noting is that those living by the line will hear train noise for a shorter period than those a few roads back. As you move further away, you hear the approaching and receding rumble for longer, while at trackside, you just get the passing blast for a few seconds. And if you live in a flat a few floors up in a building a couple of streets from a track, you may hear more noise than those on the ground floor, because you’re above the density of the surrounding buildings.
Apart from triple glazing, anyone suffering from train noise (or road or neighbour noise) can have soundproofing added to the inside of their walls, which can then be decorated over. You’ll lose a couple of centimetres of room volume (widths vary), but it might be worth it.
Or, like the Lings, you can plant a barrier of dense conifers, which will absorb sound and protect your privacy, spoiling the fun for nosy passengers. People on trains might be able to see more than you think, as one forum contributor on the subject noted: “When our train stopped between stations on a quiet line, we could all see a woman walking around naked in her living room, with the curtains open.”
Right side of the tracks
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Suffolk £750,000
Mere House, in Little Cornard, is an 18th-century home with four bedrooms. There’s a railway line at the bottom of the garden
01473 858086, struttandparker.co.uk
Northamptonshire £1.2m
Trains run behind Brookfield House, a five-bedroom Georgian home in Kings Sutton, Northamptonshire. The village station has services to London Paddington.
01295 275885, hamptons.co.uk