Medium Rail Noise
Moderate train noise
Medium rail noise covers modelled train noise of 60 to 70 dB Lden on the strategic noise maps. Lden averages a year of train noise across day, evening and night, penalising the later hours. Strategic noise mapping is devolved, and each UK nation runs its own.
What This Means
Trains will punctuate the day here rather than fade into it. Rail noise arrives in bursts, not a steady stream. The gaps between services matter as much as the peak level. Most people at this band settle into the pattern, though it stays audible. The band is modelled across a grid square, so this address may sit either side of it. This does not normally affect mortgage approval, buildings insurance or resale.
Score Ranges
Low Noise
45 to 60 dB LdenTrain noise is barely noticeable and rarely intrudes indoors.
Medium Noise
60 to 70 dB LdenTrain noise is noticeable, particularly around the busiest hours.
High Noise
Over 70 dB LdenTrain noise is frequent and loud enough to disturb sleep.
Practical Advice
- Compare the line's peak-hour timetable with its off-peak one to see how the gaps between trains change.
- Ask the seller how many trains run overnight, since freight uses paths the public timetable omits.
- Visit at the morning peak and again after midnight, so you hear the busiest and quietest hours.
- Ask the estate agent which bedrooms face the line before you decide how the rooms would be used.
Additional Information
Night disturbance has its own indicator, Lnight, which averages the 11pm to 7am period alone. A daytime band and a night band are not comparable. The link here is England's round; the other three nations publish their own maps.