HUNDREDS of residents living alongside a railway line are facing three months of overnight work as repairs are carried out to the track.

Network Rail has sent letters to residents in Station Avenue, Silver Way, Jubilee Drive, Pullman Court, St Mary’s Walk and Market Avenue, in Wickford, warning them noisy machinery, lights and generators will be used.

The project to replace the existing jointed rails with a continuous welded rail starts on Sunday and is not expected to finish until November 6.

Engineers say carrying out the work at night will minimise the disruption to train services for commuters the following morning, but residents fear the noise that will be created while they are trying to sleep.

Melissa Burrows, 27, of Jubilee Drive, said: “I’m hoping the noise won’t be unbearable.

“We always sleep with the windows closed anyway because of the trains, so it takes a lot to wake us up.

“This is going on for a long time, so if it gets too bad I’ll complain and ask them to get the loudest work out of the way earliest. I understand the work has got to be done.”

Neighbour Graham Curtis, 61, has lived in his house, which backs on to the railway line, for 20 years.

He said: “Until the work starts we don’t know what will happen and how disruptive it will be.

“One of the reasons we moved here was because it’s so close to the train station, so we have to accept the downsides of it as well.”

Linda Harlem, 62, of Pullman Court, added: “We chose to move here, so we have to live with the fact work will be carried out on the railway line in the same way we have to deal with trains going past.

“The thing that will bother us is if the machinery and generators are going all night but no work is actually getting done.

“We just want them to get on with it.”

Bosses at Network Rail claim the 11-week repair programme will reduce noise levels from passing trains and bring the track up to modern standards.

The work will start at midnight and be finished by 6.30am.

Tory councillor Michael Mowe, who lives in Station Avenue, said: “If you live near a railway station you expect a certain amount of noise and the only time the train companies can really carry out repairs is when there are no trains running. If not they would have to suspend services and that would affect more people.”