Totterdown residents say lives 'are being made a misery' by idling trains
People living on a south Bristol street have launched a campaign to stop trains being left running under their homes.
The residents of the famous coloured houses of Totterdown are calling on railway authorities to change this practice.
They say their lives are being made a misery by trains which park up and wait, with their big diesel engines running, often for as long as an hour.
Residents of St Luke's Crescent and other nearby streets were aware they would be living by a railway line when they moved in.
But say they did not realise the amount of noise and air pollution the trains would cause.
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Many of the residents have lived in the area for a long time and say they have noticed the issue getting worse over the past two or three years.
Their campaign - backed by MP Karin Smyth and local councillors - is asking GWR, Network Rail and other train companies to stop the practice.
GWR said it had worked to reduce the number of trains which wait in affected locations but sometimes it cannot be helped.
Reports suggest as Temple Meads gets busier, trains that have ended their journey at Bristol have to move away from the station to free up platforms for other trains, and wait nearby to go back into service.
Reports also suggest if trains are waiting in the sidings underneath Totterdown for a few minutes it's more efficient to keep them running.
Turning the engine off would would require a full start-up which can take a long time.