Silvertown residents regularly woken up at 4am by ‘horrific’ Crossrail train

The wall erected to block the passing trains working on Crossrail Picture: Laura Grainger Archant

Unhappy residents have complained after being woken up in the early hours of the morning by “screeching” concrete-carrying trains.

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A Crossrail test train, which should be replacing the concrete trains passing through Silvertown soon Picture: Joe Giddens/PA A Crossrail test train, which should be replacing the concrete trains passing through Silvertown soon Picture: Joe Giddens/PA

The group, who live in Silvertown, say their lives are being made a “misery” by Crossrail engineering trains operating from as early 3am.

Mum Laura Grainger, who lives in Sheldrake Close, said Crossrail has become a “scar” on the area.

“It’s making my life a misery,” the sales and marketing manager said.

“I’ve got a log of the last few trains – 4.30am, 4.40am, 4.10am.”

She added: “It makes me ratty – it’s stopping me sleep.”

As well as disrupting her own life, daughter Isabel Barnett, 16, is also being affected.

“She’s being woken up before college,” Laura said.

The creation of a wall to block off the train from residents has also frustrated Laura.

“It looks like the Berlin Wall,” she said. “The area has been cut in half by that horrible grey wall.

“It’s about a mile long and it’s just ugly – why don’t they paint something on it?”

She added: “I’ve seen the hoarding in Bond Street – can you imagine them doing what they did in Silvertown in West London?”

Another resident who initially complained about the noise has since looked on the bright side.

“It was absolutely horrific in the summer,” Dionne Lynch, 48, who lives in Lord Street, said.

“But with the winter making us shut windows, it’s not so bad now.”

Dionne said the noise, though bad enough to make her think about leaving the place she loves, is actually a sign of good things.

“You didn’t used to be able to pay people to live here – now everyone wants to come,” she said.

“The airport is great, DLR is great and as long as the actual Crossrail trains are quieter, it’s fine.”

A spokeswoman for Crossrail said all feedback is welcome and stressed the “sympathetic way” in which concerns are handled.

She added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and have implemented all possible solutions with our contractor ATC – Alstom, TSO, Costain JV – to reduce the noise created by the engineering train as it passes through this section.”