Tuesday, 29 October 2024

 Tim READ (Brunswick) (15:04): I was recently contacted by a Brunswick constituent who had just bought his first home, an apartment along the Upfield line. He had expected a happy experience but told me it was more akin to a nightmare, with train horns disrupting his sleep every night. Safety measures around trains make sense, but this year’s new Comeng fleet of trains have even louder horns, reaching a deafening 110 decibels at times. I live 1.2 kilometres from the Upfield line and I hear those horns from my backyard, so I can just imagine how those living closer feel. Melbourne’s north is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions, so we are seeing more high-density living along those lines. That also means an increasing number of people living very close to piercing train horns, causing insomnia, anxiety and, for some, physical and mental health complications. We need to find a balance between preventing accidents on the one hand and protecting the health of the thousands and growing numbers who live virtually on top of train lines. The government has delayed the completion of the Brunswick sky rail until 2030, and obviously horns will be less necessary once the rail is elevated, but they cannot expect residents to wait six years for a reduction in this noise-induced distress.