Ossining residents claim idling Metro-North trains tormenting them

A group of Ossining residents is demanding that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority abate excessive noise and vibrations allegedly emanating from the Croton-Harmon Yard.

Neighbors Opposing Noise Inc. accused the MTA and its Metro-North Commuter Railroad affiliate of creating a nuisance, in a complaint filed Oct. 13 in Westchester Supreme Court.

“Due to the persistence and volume of the noise,” the complaint states, “residents in affected communities experience sleep deprivation, headaches, nausea, difficulty concentrating, noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, anxiety, heart complications and dizziness.”

“The train yard has served Westchester communities for more than a century,” MTA spokesperson Joana Flores responded. “The litigation challenging its operations is without merit. Since the matter is in litigation, the MTA is unable to provide further comment.”

Neighbors Opposing Noise (NON) was formed two years ago and claims to have 85 members. Among its leaders, also named as plaintiffs, are Jamie Black, 62, Laurie Hollar, 46, and Gareth Hougham, 64 who have lived near the maintenance yard from five to 35 years.

Croton-Harmon yard is the MTA’s primary maintenance facility. The 100-acre site between the local train station and Croton Point Park consists of a mesh of train tracks and locomotive and coach repair shops.

Neighbors claim that the MTA began shifting operations south of the Croton Park Avenue Bridge, toward Ossining, around 2003, because residents of Croton-on-Hudson complained about noise. But it wasn’t until 2020 that the noise became intolerable.

More than 50 trains are left idling day and night, according to the complaint, and the noise ricochets off new repair and maintenance buildings.

NON members say they have soundproofed rooms, replaced windows and doors, and used ear plugs and white noise machines to dampen the sounds.

Jamie Black and James Levis abandoned their bedroom, the complaint states, and sleep in a closet to get some relief. But from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., they are still awakened by idling trains.

In 2021, after residents complained to Ossining public officials, Metro-North officials allegedly told village officials that the noise was coming from air conditioners in the community.

MTA agreed to conduct noise tests. But when the tests were conducted, the complaint states, the trains were not idling. After testing equipment was removed, the noise resumed.

Jamie Black hired an independent consultant to run tests on her property that, the complaint states, found “disturbing noise levels which were consistently above ambient conditions.”

NON is asking the court to declare that that the MTA and Metro-North have created a private nuisance that constitutes negligence. It is demanding a court order to abate the noise.

The group says it is not seeking monetary damages because money “would do nothing to address the problem.”

NON is represented by attorney Todd D. Ommen of the Pace Law School Environmental Litigation Clinic.