Network Rail Challenged Over Train Stopping Point

8.09.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 22nd Jun 2009

Local Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Richard Burt and County Councillor Steve Brown have challenged Network Rail to move a train stopping point after residents complained their lives are being disrupted every day through noise and vibrations created by London trains that stop and reverse within yards of their homes.

First Great Western trains on the 125 service from London, introduced last year, are stopped just outside Great Malvern at the bottom of gardens in Fruitlands, Malvern Wells. Residents say that since the stopping point was installed, they suffer from trains squealing to a halt, doors banging as the driver changes cabs, and then trains pulling away from 5am in the morning to late at night.

"We asked Network Rail to move the stopping point a few hundred metres so that the noise from the trains reversing does not disrupt retired residents living nearby," said Councillor Brown.

Richard Burt said: "I was angered to receive a phone call from a Community Relations Adviser telling me that it was the responsibility of First Great Western, who operate the trains.

"I said it was the equivalent of blaming a bus company for a road junction, and was then told an email from the 'Maintenance Protection Coordinator for Malvern' said Network Rail couldn't consider moving the stopping point because it would take years to change.

"Is it any wonder that consumers get so frustrated when attempting to deal with complaints on public utilities and services?

"I have written to Network Rail bosses complaining about the response and demanding a copy of the email claiming the stopping point could not be moved. It was no trouble to put the stopping point there when the 125 service was introduced, so it should be no trouble to move it to a more suitable location away from residential homes."