COUNCILLOR BOBBY FITZGERALD has called on Irish Rail to “stop hooting their horns” at Carrick-on-Suir train station after receiving over 100 complaints from locals about the noise.
Mr Fitzgerald told TheJournal.ie that the 7am and 10am trains were the most complained about.
According to Mr Fitzgerald, the train driver starts to blow the horn about two miles before he reaches the town and starts to blow it again when he leaves the station until the train is about two miles outside Carrick-on-Suir.
He said the noise is “continuous” and “very annoying” and can be heard for about five miles outside the town.
A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann put Cllr Fitzgerald’s comments down to a “single incident last Saturday morning, in which a mechanical fault on a train caused the horn to lock on for about five minutes as it was passing through Carrick-on-Suir”.
The driver reported this fault and it has been rectified, but this was absolutely an isolated incident.
However, Cllr Fitzgerald rejected this saying the noise problem wasn’t an “isolated incident” and has been going on for about “three to four weeks”. He said this was just an “excuse from Irish Rail”.
“It’s upsetting people, especially the elderly and the sick in the area. I’ve also had complaints from people who have just finished the night shift,” said the Tipperary South Councillor. “It’s also a form of cruelty to animals, who start barking and go mad when they hear the horn.”
The Irish Rail spokesperson explained to TheJournal.ie that drivers need to sound their horns at certain points for safety reasons, when approaching a level crossing, which includes farm crossings, to alert any possible user that a train is coming. The horn is also sounded if staff are working at line side, or if there were trespassers or animals on the line.
In short, drivers sound the train horn as they are required to do so for safety reasons, and under no circumstances would we change this.
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