Berkley residents sound off about noise from South Coast Rail

BERKLEY, Mass. (WLNE) — Berkley residents say they are restless and fed up with nightly train horns from the new South Coast Rail service.

About two weeks after the line opened, over 100 people gathered at Berkley Town Hall to voice their concerns Wednesday night.

Stephen Alvarez said he lives about 12 steps from the tracks, and lately, he’s barely been able to sleep.

“There’s no sense sleeping, because your sleep is disturbed,” he said. “You’re waiting to hear the horn, you’re waiting to feel the rumble in the house, because our house is an old farmhouse.”

Residents near Myricks Junction said over 60 trains a day pass by their homes, meaning they hear the horn about three times each hour when the trains are running.

“They start a mile down the road and continually blow it all the way through,” Alvarez said. “They don’t seem to mind too much at 1:30 in the morning or 4:45 when they start.”

To help soothe their ears, residents are calling for a quiet zone, which would keep the horns off during certain hours.

MBTA Chief Operating Officer Ryan Coholan explained that can only be decided between the town and the Federal Railroad Administration.

“The operating railroad for the territory, they are involved with the discussions,” Coholan said. “But the discussion has to be between the municipality and the FRA.”

Those in charge of South Coast Rail said the main concern is safety, but Alvarez said, one way or another, something has to change.

“They can stick to whatever federal guidelines there are in terms of what they need to do to blow the horns at the crossings,” Alvarez said. “But they don’t need to blow them four crossings away and all the way through.”

Both the MBTA and representatives for the Town of Berkley said they are going to have internal discussions to decide how to best proceed.