From DNA Info:
Noise from trains idling in the Hunters Point train yard is destroying the quality of life in the increasingly residential area, which is dotted with $1 million apartments, neighbors say.
Despite the Long Island Rail Road’s promises to alleviate the problem, the disruptive noise continues to be an issue, especially for people living in condominiums along Borden Avenue, say elected officials and residents.
The condos, directly across the street from the Long Island City train station began to pop up starting in 2007. Some units cost more than $1 million.
Branko Kolbek, who has lived in one of the buildings since 2009, acknowledged that he had been aware of noise coming from the yard before he bought his home and moved in.
“But not until you spend enough time in the neighborhood, do you really get a full sense of what’s going on here,” said Kolbek, 29. “During the week, you have to keep the windows closed.”
The issue has been raised by various elected officials, most recently by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the area. “We have asked the LIRR to move these trains, to turn the engines off, to stop the idling and come up with ways to decrease the sound of these engines,” Van Bramer said.
The LIRR has taken measures to address the issue and to reduce locomotive idling, according to spokesman Salvatore Arena. Equipment schedules in the yard have been revised, some locomotives have been shut down and idling trains have been moved as far away from Borden Avenue as possible, he said.
"It's an active rail yard in operation for more than 100 years, a station that services 10,000 customers every day and a transit center that plays a crucial role in the service we provide to our 80,000 daily customers," Arena said.
21 comments:
buyer beware.....
Those rail yards have been here for over one hundred years. Either get used to the "noise" or move back to Manhattan you spoiled brats!
Ditto - I think the rail yards in this heavily former industrial area was here first! Get over it - folks plowed money into residences that was expected to appreciate and they didn't care where that property was located - just buy it - now regret it!
This is ridiculous. Like all the people who buy property along a highway then complain about the noise and have the government build a noise barrier. You are responsible when you buy property to take stock of where it is and what might be the shortcomings, it's not the governments job to come fix it ex post facto
No One ever gets on the train stop there.
Maybe 10 people every two days.
Location, location, location....
Suck it up...or move!
Anon No. 5:
That's because the main purpose of that facility is as a storage yard.
How do you move next to a train yard and not expect noise. Thats like moving next to an air port and then bitching about the planes. They should have never allowed residential buildings to go up an industrial area.
How are they smart enough to get a 1 mill mortgage and dumb enough to move someplace noisy?
I have to agree with all others so far--this is a train yard. It is for trains. We all ride trains or can ride them when we need to, but they cannot make noise or be stored anywhere. When you bulid in an industrial area, you get what goes with it-industry. Don't buy million dollar apts. next to a train yard and then tell the trains not to make noise.
Insane!!!
RS
"Pre-existing conditions" are something applicable to health insurance, not real estate.
There are plenty of locations in Queens that are dead zones at night, so move there.
Van Bramer has polyps in his colon and his brain.....
I bought into a co-op in Woodside about ten years ago. My bedroom faces a semi busy roadway with regular bus and truck traffic. As a buyer I DEMAND thaat the road be closed and the bus and truck traffic be rerouted into someone else's neighborhood! Shame on the board and the real estate agent for not telling me that the roadway would be utilized by motor vehicles of all sorts!
Let some more hipsters move in to those overpriced poorly built apartments and the city will bend to their will. The trains will stop idling, hell they might even move.
Waaaaa! the realtor showed me the neighborhood on a weekend and there were no trains! Waaaaaaaaa!
My god someone should just walk around LIC bitchslapping these people.
Anti Idling technology. It saves fuel (diesel is expensive) and wear and tear in main engines. Get Van Bramer and whoever represents the area for State Senate and Rep to get funds to retrofit LIRR diesel electric locomotives. The locals will get lower emissions.
Pollution from idling trains blow to all neighborhoods. Greenhouse gases blow all over the world. NYC has an anti-idling law.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8585.html
You may be fined from $500 to $18,000 in the case of a first violation.
1 train idling must equal several large trucks idling.
I doubt that the trains are idling for maintenance.
I have the same problem in Richmond Hill. I live 5 blocks away and hear the trains idle all night. Trains idle right across from play ground on Atlantic ave and smoke blows into it. I called 311 and LIRR a year ago. Nothing changed.
And how long has that rail yard been there before you moved in, Joe?
A railyard having been there when you moved in doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get them to become more environmentally friendly or adhere to regulations. Just because you move trains doesn't mean you have carte blanche to do whatever you feel like doing.
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer Losing Credibility
Jimmy Van Bramer has become a champion to imbeciles who want LIRR to 'End the Noise' ... "Residents of Borden Avenue in Long Island City have been complaining about LIRR trains at various hours throughout the day."
Complainants are obviously very stupid spoiled brats who did not do their research before moving there. Wikipedia.org tells us "This station was built on June 26, 1854"
At Queensbridge Houses we hear constant sound of cars going over Queensboro Bridge. We have enough intelligence not to con Van Bramer to get involved in this.
There is a school next door to a bar in Northern LIC, because the bar was there before the school was built.
The LIRR was there first. The cry babies raised by over indulgent parents should be the ones to go! Buyer's remorse?
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