SWAN councillors have deferred until September a decision on noise wall mitigation measures that Swan View and Stratton residents hope will help reduce noise from freight trains.
In Freight train noise wall failure (Echo News, February 17, 2023) Swan View and Stratton residents said the noise from freight trains, which never used to bother them, had become unbearable since the construction of a noise wall in the Movida estate.
The July agenda included a recommendation that the council resolve to 1) note the findings of the investigation into the suggested noise mitigation treatments to the noise wall and 2) advise the residents that options to install acoustic cladding, sand backfill and reducing the speed of the trains were not feasible.
The officer’s report also recommended progressing planning and design to include Blackadder Road in the city’s street tree planting program, noting the requirement for railway network operator Arc Infrastructure’s approval where the rail corridor may be affected.
On July 10 deputy mayor Ian Johnson moved an alternative motion seconded by his fellow Midland Guildford ward councillor Rashelle Predovnik that the item be withdrawn until the September meeting.
The motion was carried.
According to the officer's report the total cost to clad the wall on the eastern side to address inconclusive reflective noise was estimated at about $1.1 million and did not include ongoing maintenance and eventual replacement of the material.
“The acoustic consultant was unable to provide conclusive, objective evidence of a significant increase in noise from the wall,’’ the officer’s report said.
Arc Infrastructure had advised it was not practical to reduce the speed limit on that section of track as it would impact the flow of freight on the entire network.
The acoustic consultant’s report included the planting of vegetation near the noise wall as a potential mitigation strategy and the city sought advice from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER).
“The advice indicates that vegetation would be of no benefit as a noise absorber but planting close to the wall may have some benefit in diffusing the reflected sound which could perhaps benefit the receivers.
“Both the advice from the acoustic consultant and the DWER noise branch indicates that for the vegetation to have any effect it would need to be planted close to the wall rather than along Blackadder Road.
Last year Trevor Treloar said he had lived on Blackadder right across from the railway line since 1996.
“We couldn’t hear the trains coming from the east until they got to us and now we can hear them as they go across the crossing,’’ he said.
“The big concern for us is when the next subdivision gets done they’ll also have a wall and there is absolutely nothing between the railway line and those houses down that end of Blackadder Road because it’s all level and it’s just going to get so much louder.
“We used to sleep with the windows open in summer time to get the easterly, we don’t now.’’
