Residents living near the railway in York are fearful of a less than peaceful Christmas this year.
They have received letters from Network Rail telling them that significant engineering work will be taking place near their properties.
And it will run from the night of Christmas Eve, throughout Christmas Day and night – and non-stop until the day after Boxing Day.
“The nature of our work often means some disturbance is unavoidable,” the letter says.
Work will begin at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve and run 24 hours a day until 5.30am on 27 December.
They will also be working every weekend throughout January and February on Sundays, from 12.15am to 8am.
The work is to excavate and install pile foundations for a new stretch of East Coast Main Line track from York to Skelton.
One Bishophill resident who has received the letter said that people affected “won’t be having silent nights”.
Noise mitigations
A resident who lives by the line near Holgate Bridge told YorkMix it wasn’t brilliant news given it’s Christmas and they would “expect to enjoy the silence that descends on the city on the 24th”.
They said that Network Rail do make a lot of noise and sometimes block streets with their vans. But they added that they had pretty good double glazing so most of the noise can be blocked out.
“It’s something we put up with and accept when living close to a railway.
“Network Rail is good at dealing with any issues raised if people complain, like bad parking.
“The only thing is that this. Upgrades seem to be going on forever. You wonder if they will ever finish and it would be nice if the train service actually improved”
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The work we’re doing at York Station over the Christmas period and into the New Year will help to improve services on the East Coast Main Line.
“Being a considerate neighbour is really important to us, which is why we have written to residents to inform them about the work.
“We do have noise mitigations in place to minimise disruption. This includes using acoustic wrapping to reduce noise from piling, using mini buses to transport workers to site to reduce vehicle noise, as well as reminding our teams of the importance of working considerately.
“We’d like to thank residents for their patience whilst this work takes place.”